HOTCHKA Movie Review: Fresh

© Searchlight Pictures

Fresh is a gruesome metaphor for dating that tips entirely in a disturbing way
by Jeremy Fogelman

Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sebastian Stan, Jojo T. Gibbs, Andrea Bang, Dayo Okeniyi, Charlotte Le Bon
Rating: ★★

Body horror is a particularly complicated thing to review, because it has that odd note that strikes some people as disgusting to the point of being unable to watch further, but others as a radical, daring take that pushes the envelope in positive, artful ways. In the realm of horror movies, it can be a crutch to make things worse when there’s an iffy script, so the real challenge is how to balance it effectively with the underlying message.

Fresh comes from director Mimi Cave and writer Lauryn Kahn, in Cave’s first feature film. Here we follow city gal Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones), who is suffering from terrible online date after online date, with all manner of typical microaggressions and problematic behaviors along the way. She confides her frustration to her black best friend Mollie (Jojo T. Gibbes), who ends up having a decent storyline in the film.

After it seems like nothing will work, Noa is randomly approached by a handsome stranger in the grocery store, a man named Steve (Sebastian Stan) -- and his lines aren’t the worst, even if being approached like this in public is rarely, if ever, appreciated. Noa is charmed despite herself, falling into a quick, whirlwind romance with the mysterious Steve, and it’s all very rom-com for the first thirty minutes or so, but this is a mirage.

Steve convinces Noa to come away with him for a weekend at his remote fancy cabin, far away from the boring old things like good or working cell phone service. The creepy vibes rise and rise until we’re simply in an actual horror movie, one that is absolutely disgusting and troublesome. The specifics may be easy to guess (the marketing of the film makes it pretty easy to figure out, and I certainly got it without much help), but then we’re in the “how do we get out of this?” part of the movie.

Noa is imprisoned for unsavory reasons in the cabin, with only another girl through the wall for company (Andrea Bang), while back home Mollie is suspicious and tries to figure out what’s going on with her friend. Noa decides to try a new charm offensive, and maybe convince Steve (or whatever his real name is) that he could spare her long enough to escape or something else.

© Searchlight Pictures

The movie delves lightly into body horror, sparing us from the truly gruesome moments by use of related or metaphorical imagery, with an underlying message about the nature of terrible dates for women -- that is ultimately the point of it all, underneath the bizarre trappings. The two lead performances are quite good, with Daisy Edgar-Jones able to show all of the emotions between lies and truth in the midst of her terror.

Sebastian Stan is also really good, starting in a more family friendly charming mode before shifting into a more off-putting, deranged manner with ease (reminds me more of his roles in I, Tonya or Pam & Tommy). The other side roles aren’t quite as interestingly written, but at least they provide a bit more than the standard horror movie cliches.

As a horror movie it isn’t that bloody, but it’s particularly wince-inducing at times, so it’s best to consider it as one -- as a horror/thriller though, it’s an interesting one, even if it does get a bit long in the tooth at times. I feel like it will hit a lot of people pretty hard, in the right sorts of ways.

Fresh has a run time of 1 hour 54 minutes and is rated R for strong and disturbing violent content, some bloody images, language throughout, some sexual content and brief graphic nudity. Fresh is streaming exclusively on Hulu.

Movie Review: Nomadland

© Searchlight Pictures

Nomadland is a movie that’s perhaps too beautiful to judge fairly.
by Jeremy Fogelman
Rating: ★★★

I first saw the work of Chloé Zhao in 2018 with her surprisingly effective movie The Rider, which explored the dangerous world of bronco riders while utilizing real people playing fictionalized versions of themselves instead of just actors. There was a rawness and realness there, and while not all of the performances worked, most did and pulled you into their world. Chloé Zhao had a fascinating way of exploring a part of America that is rarely shown, and her follow-up has a similar idea in mind.

Nomadland is both written and directed by Chloé Zhao, based on the book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder, and shot by Zhao’s partner Joshua James Richards. The first note is that the movie is gorgeous, with epic shots of the American countryside, but that’s almost gilding the lily a bit.

We follow an actual actor this time (around the year 2011), Frances McDormand playing Fern, a recent widow who’s also lost her job and struggles to find a new one. So after trying locally for a while but having immense difficulty, she comes up with a potentially crazy idea to simply live on the road while looking for a new job.

For a while she scrapes by, although living in a car has many problems, aside from the legal ones. As the days creep into winter, the danger of living in a car increases and Fern takes an opportunity to check out a fascinating sort of shared community of “nomads” run by real life person Bob Wells (no offense to the guy, who seems friendly and open, but I could tell he was not an actor). The community is mixed, with some people like Fern just trying to get by, but others are more interested in eschewing the modern world and preferring to live life on the move.

We continue to follow Fern as she travels, often without dialogue, as we are simply given the opportunity to let the landscape sink in. Here and there more real life nomads playing versions of themselves drop by, adding Zhao’s now expected hyper-authenticity to a world that’s not quite fictional. I was also pleased to see one of my favorite character actors, David Strathairn, show up, amusingly named David to parallel the real life people with their own names. He’s a great actor, and he provided instant warmth and feeling to his scene with Frances McDormand.

As for her, the character of Fern provides a very complicated role for Frances McDormand, because Fern has a great deal of internality and much of the movie is slowly letting us experience the road just like she is doing. Underlying the performance, which is perhaps obviously great, is a story about the Americans that we don’t think about.

The ones that struggle and try to survive even as their systems fail them -- is it any wonder that some of them don’t want to rely on a single place anymore? For me, a home is a place of potential stability and peace, and I don’t really relate to the idea of never wanting to stand still -- but I can still understand it. The idea of wanderlust is a complicated one, but Fern never makes it any easier on us. She’s 100% on the outside, and if she’s so comfortable there, what does that say about the rest of us?

Nomadland is a very affecting movie in many ways, even if I personally think The Rider is better, it’s still one heck of a track record so far for Chloé Zhao, who is in a position to win even more awards and maybe make a legitimately good Marvel movie (she’s credited as a co-writer for The Eternals which certainly intrigues me). Whether it’s that or something else like the announced Sci-Fi Western Dracula movie, I’m certainly on board to see what she does next.

 

 

Nomadland is currently in theaters and streaming exclusively on Hulu.

Disney's Investor Day Roundup

© Disney

 

Thursday, December 10 was the Walt Disney Company's Investor Day, and the studio made many exciting announcements regarding both theatrical and streaming releases for all of its studios: Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios and Searchlight. We posted a few of the announcements on our social media accounts so if you missed them, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

What we didn't already post is included below. Be sure to check out the trailers and sizzle reels below!

• Disney will skip theaters for two major films, sending Robert Zemeckis's live-action remake of Pinocchio, with Tom Hanks as Geppeto, and Peter Pan and Wendy, with Jude Law as Captain Hook, directly to Disney+. There was no indication at this time that either film will be Premium Access releases, The animated Raya and the Last Dragon will carry the Premium Access pricing when it debuts in the Spring at the same time it opens in theaters.
• While some films are bypassing theatrical distribution, Disney has rescheduled others that will remain exclusively on the big screen. Thor: Love and Thunder shifts from February 11, 2022 to May 6, 2022. That moves the Black Panther sequel from May 6, 2022 to July 8, 2022, which pushes Captain Marvel 2 from July 8 to November 11, 2022.
• Back on the schedule, Ryan Reynolds' Free Guy is now slated to open on May 21, 2021, followed by Kenneth Branagh's follow-up to Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile is now scheduled for a September 17, 2021 release. Also, The King's Man was pushed back a month from February 12, 2021 to March 12, 2021. The thriller Antlers from Searchlight remains unscheduled.
• A Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special for Disney+ will be written and directed by Guardians director James Gunn. The special will film at the same time as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and will premiere on the streaming service in 2022.
• A Baby Groot series of shorts titled I Am Groot is in development for Disney+.
• Kevin Feige has revealed the third Ant-Man film will be titled Ant-Man is Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, and that Big Little Lies actress Kathryn Newton is joining the cast as Cassie Lang. Jonathan Majors is also joining the cast as Kang the Conquerer.
• Iman Vellani, who will star in the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel, will also appear in Captain Marvel 2. Teyonah Paris, who is playing the grown up Monica Rambeau in Marvel's WandaVision series, will also bring the character to Captain Marvel 2. Akira Akbar played a younger version of the character in the first film.
• With Tatiana Maslany cast as the lead for Marvel's Disney+ series She-Hulk, Kevin Feige revealed Tim Roth will reprise his The Incredible Hulk (the Edward Norton film) character The Abomination, and Mark Ruffalo will make an appearance as Bruce Banner/The Hulk.
• Delayed from its original August 2020 release date due to coronavirus shutdowns, Disney+ has revealed Marvel's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will debut on the service March 19, 2021.
• Other Marvel series in the works at Disney+ include Ironheart, Moon Knight, Armor Wars and Secret Invasion. Don Cheadle will return to the role of James Rhodes, aka War Machine, in Armor Wars. Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn (Captain Marvel) will star in Secret Invasion. Dominique Thorne will star as Riri Williams in Ironheart, the first Black female lead of a Marvel series.
• Tom Hiddleston returns to the role of Loki in his new Disney+ series which will debut in May 2021.
• Marvel is planning a new Fantastic Four film with Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts at the helm.
• Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins will helm the Rogue One spin-off Rogue Squadron, which is currently set to be released theatrically on December 22, 2023.
• On the animation front, Disney+ will roll out four new series based on popular films. Big Hero 6 robot Baymax is getting his own series titled Baymax! The Princess and the Frog's princess will headline Tiana, and series continuing the stories of Zootopia and Moana will also stream. Baymax!, Tiana and Zootopia will bow in 2022 with Moana on the schedule for 2023. Pixar's Dug Days, a spin-off of Up, will premiere in Fall 2021, while a series based on Pixar's Cars is set for the Fall of 2022.
• Ronald D. Moore and Jon M. Chu will develop a series based on Swiss Family Robinson for Disney+.
• Marvel Studios confirmed it will not recast the role of Black Panther following Chadwick Boseman's untimely death stating Boseman's work “transcends any iteration of the character” and will “honor the legacy" while continuing to explore the world of Wakanda.
• Christian Bale finally comes to the Marvel Universe as the villain Gorr the Godbutcher in Thor: Love and Thunder.
• Production on Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has been completed and the full cast has been revealed: Tony Leung as Wenwu, Awkwafina as Katy, Meng’er Zhang as Xialing, Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Chan, Ronny Chieng as Jon Jon, Fala Chen as Jiang Li and Florian Munteanu as Razor Fist. The release date is July 9, 2021.
• Chris Evans will voice the character Buzz Lightyear in an all-new animated film that will tell the definitive story of the original Buzz Lightyear. The film is slated to hit theaters on June 17, 2022. Pixar also has Turning Red on the calendar for March 11, 2022.
• Walt Disney Studios' 60th animated film will be the Columbia-set Encanto, which will feature music written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and is scheduled to open November 24, 2021.
• Whoopi Goldberg will return to the role of Deloris for Disney+ original Sister Act 3, with Tyler Perry on board to produce.
• Amy Adams will return to the Enchanted role of Princess Gizelle for the Disney+ original feature Disenchanted.
• Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers gets a Disney+ reboot with Andy Samberg and John Mulaney lending their voices to the title characters. The new series is set to debut in the Spring of 2022.
• Will Smith will head to the extreme ends of the Earth in the new Nat Geo series from Darren Aronofsky, Welcome to Earth. Chris Hemsworth is also slated to star in the series Limitless, while A Real Bug's Life and America the Beautiful are also part of the Nat Geo slate. Welcome to Earth and Limitless will be Disney+ Originals.
• With the announcement of billions of dollars being poured into production on new series and movies, Disney+ will increase its subscription price to $7.99 a month in March 2021. In Europe the price will increase from €2 a month to €8 and will include the new Star service.

 

A sneak peek at Star Wars: The Bad Batch, an all-new animated Original Series from Lucasfilm Animation, coming soon to Disney+.

 

 

“Everything I did, I did for the Rebellion.” Andor, an Original Series set in the Star Wars universe, is streaming in 2022 on Disney+.

 

 

“I’ve been tracking you, Mandalorian.” Catch up on the new season of The Mandalorian, now streaming on Disney+.

 

 

Ms. Marvel, a newer character to Marvel comics has grabbed the world's imagination and we are excited to announce Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan.

 

 

"Space. Time. Reality. It's more than a linear path." WHAT IF…?, an Original Series from Marvel Studios, is coming Summer 2021 to #DisneyPlus.

 

 

“Glorious.” Loki, an Original Series from Marvel Studios, is coming May 2021 to #DisneyPlus.

 

 

“The legacy of that shield is complicated.” Marvel Studios’ The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, an Original Series, starts streaming Mar. 19 on #DisneyPlus.

 

 

"We are an unusual couple." Marvel Studios' WandaVision, an Original Series, starts streaming Jan. 15 on #DisneyPlus.