Dispatches From Nowhere
Screamin' into the Void
Welcome to Pop ‘n’ Pizza, a weekly newsletter highlighting what’s new in pop culture and pulp fiction. This week, I’m providing some capsule reviews of stuff I’ve enjoyed recently.
MASTER (2022)
Synopsis: “Three women strive to find their place at an elite Northeastern university as old as the country. When anonymous racist attacks target a Black freshman — who insists she is being haunted by ghosts of the school’s past — each woman must determine where the real menace lies.”
Written and directed by Mariama Diallo, MASTER is an atmospheric slow burn (think Oz Perkins’ BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER) with strong performances by Regina Hall and Zoe Renee and dread-inducing imagery by cinematographer Charlotte Hornsby.
Like CANDYMAN, it’s a hodgepodge of folk horror and social commentary. However, it’s less interested in the supernatural and more focused on the systemic racism that haunts America’s hallowed halls of higher learning.
Available on Amazon Prime Video.
FRESH (2022)
Synopsis: “FRESH follows the horrors of modern dating seen through one young woman’s defiant battle to survive her new boyfriend’s unusual appetites.”
FRESH is assembled from bits and pieces of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, AMERICAN PSYCHO, HANNIBAL, and CREEP, with two great performances from Sebastian Stan and Daisy Edgar-Jones. Written by Lauryn Kahn and directed by Mimi Cave, FRESH is one of the best and most aesthetically pleasing horror films of 2022 with top-notch production design and cinematography. And I adored the music choices, especially Animotion's "Obsession."
Available on Hulu.
OFFSEASON (2022)
Synopsis: “After receiving a mysterious letter, a woman travels to a desolate island town and soon becomes trapped in a nightmare.”
I quite enjoyed Mickey Keating's OFFSEASON, but then again it's a movie that seems almost expressly made for me. Jocelin Donahue (HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, DOCTOR SLEEP) stars as Marie, a woman who receives a mysterious letter that her mother's gravesite has been vandalized.
When she arrives at the isolated offshore island where her mother is laid to rest, she discovers that the island is closing for the offseason - the bridges will be raised until Spring, leaving her stranded there. Marie soon realizes that something is not quite right in this small town. She must unveil the mystery behind her mother's troubled past in order to make it out alive.
With major vibes of DEAD & BURIED, THE FOG, DAGON, and SILENT HILL, OFFSEASON is an effective Lovecraftian horror story with beautiful production design by Sabrena Allen-Biron and cinematography by Mac Fisken, and a strong performance from Donahue.
Available on Amazon Prime Video.
THE FRONTIER (2016)
Synopsis: “Laine, a young woman on the run from the law, turns up at The Frontier, an isolated desert motel.”
Speaking of Jocelin Donahue, I recently caught up with Oren Shai's 2016 film THE FRONTIER and really enjoyed it. Donahue stars as Laine, a drifter on the run who takes a job at a remote desert motel. She quickly discovers The Frontier’s patrons are actually partners meeting up after a heist. With nothing to lose, she hatches a plan to steal their loot.
The film also stars Kelly Lynch, Jim Beaver, Izabella Miko, Jamie Harris, Liam Aiken, and A. J. Bowen. Shot on 16mm, THE FRONTIER is a beautifully lensed, low-budget throwback to a bygone era - a desert noir with a grindhouse vibe and some sturdy, muscular performances. Its accommodations are sparse, but it’s worth a visit.
Available on Amazon Prime Video.
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Synopsis: “An aging Chinese immigrant is swept up in an insane adventure, where she alone can save the world by exploring other universes connecting with the lives she could have led. Unfortunately, this sweeps her up into an even bigger adventure when she finds herself lost in the infinite worlds of the multiverse.”
Written and directed by Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE is a mind-blowing, soul-jolting masterwork of sentiment and surrealism that sees nihilism as the enemy and depression as an unstoppable force that swallows entire universes. Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, and Ke Huy Quan are amazing, as is Jamie Lee Curtis in a supporting role.
Should you take the journey, you’ll find bits and pieces of THE MATRIX, CLOUD ATLAS, SPIRITED AWAY, and SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE throughout, as well as more than a handful of shots inspired by Wong Kar-wai (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, THE GRANDMASTER). I don’t want to say too much else, because I think experiencing this film is so much more important than anything you’ll read about it. I absolutely recommend seeing EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE on the big screen as soon as you can - it’s absolutely one of the best films of 2022.
I leave you with this quote from Roger Ebert, which sums up my thoughts pretty succinctly.
“We are all born with a certain package. We are who we are. Where we were born, who we were born as, how we were raised. We are kind of stuck inside that person, and the purpose of civilization and growth is to be able to reach out and empathize a little bit with other people, find out what makes them tick, what they care about.
For me, the movies are like a machine that generates empathy. If it’s a great movie, it lets you understand a little bit more about what it’s like to be a different gender, a different race, a different age, a different economic class, a different nationality, a different profession, different hopes, aspirations, dreams and fears.
It helps us to identify with the people who are sharing this journey with us. And that, to me, is the most noble thing that good movies can do and it’s a reason to encourage them and to support them and to go to them.”
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