Twixt
Like a fantastical nightmare cut short by wakefulness, Francis Ford Coppola’s ghost story Twixt gives us a wild, imaginative ride but cuts to black before it all makes sense.
The protagonist is Hall Baltimore (Val Kilmer), a bargain-basement horror writer making the rounds on his latest book tour. He arrives in Swan Valley, a town with a seven-faced clock tower and gaggles of Goths, but doesn’t leave as quickly as he expects. He stays to write a new story about the town’s recent murder victim—a young girl with a stake plunged into her heart. The film bounces between the daytime—sequences of writing, investigating, and collaborating with the police chief—and the night.
At night, Hall is pulled into a dream version of Swan Valley, painted in greyscale and violent reds, and populated by ghosts. The writer meets V (Elle Fanning), a porcelain-skinned vampire with far too many secrets, and the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe.
The dreams soon become nightmares. Hall is charged with solving the girl’s murder, chasing down a ghastly serial killer, and fighting the darkness growing inside him.
Twixt is original, eerie, and thought-provoking. But viewers beware; it ends too quickly. The plot is left unfinished, unsatisfying, and underwhelming. This film deserved a satisfying finale. Instead, we get a conclusion that slips through the cracks like a hazy dream in the morning.
Albert Nobbs
Albert Nobbs has all the makings of an excellent period drama, with a twist. The cinematography is stunning, the costumes are impeccable, the plot rife with drama—and the main character is a woman masquerading as a man. Albert, played by Glenn Close, takes on the role of a man in order to get ahead in a male-dominated society. She works as a servant in a posh hotel, dreaming of one day owning her own business.
Nobbs would be a strong, intriguing character, if it weren’t nearly impossible to sympathize with her; and therein lies the fatal flaw of the film. Around everyone else, Nobbs is a reserved man with no sense of humour. When we’re first introduced to Albert Nobbs the woman, we see that she is a snivelling wretch terrified of being discovered, and obsessed with counting her money.
This disconnect causes the film’s impact to fall flat. Save for one heartwarming scene where she dons a dress for the first time in decades, Glenn Close does nothing with the role.
Albert Nobbs is wrenchingly close to being excellent. Mia Wasikowska and Janet McTeer deliver powerful performances as women with actual personalities. The ensemble cast—the hotel’s staff and clients—is superb. Love, drama, and intrigue abound. However, it just goes to show that a compelling protagonist can mean the difference between absolutely and almost outstanding.
The Descendants
Hawaii is no paradise for Matt King (George Clooney), an estranged husband and father faced with two daunting tasks. One: he must inform friends and family that his wife will not recover from a boating accident. Two: he must decide what to do with the valuable plot of land he’s inherited from his royal ancestor.
As he navigates these burdens, Matt has to reconcile with what’s left of his family: two troubled, distant daughters. As he begins to repair their relationship, Matt’s daughter Alex reveals that Matt’s wife was cheating on him. The film becomes an odyssey—Matt’s quest to find the man his wife was planning to leave him for.
Along the journey through lush Hawaiian islands, Matt does his best to make amends with his daughters, and deal with the death of his wife. There are dark emotions at play here, yet The Descendants manages to blend genuine laugh-out-loud moments with touching scenes. The story is utterly believable, anchored by powerful performances by Shailene Woodley as Alex, and Clooney, who makes a flawed, stressed man’s struggle both heart-warming and heartbreaking.
