A Woman's Perspective: Professor Marston & the Wonder Women

The opening frame of a movie lays down the tracks for the picture to travel on. This includes on-screen text. Remember Inglourious Basterds? The first image we see after the credits is the text “Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France…”, giving the viewer the impression that Quintin Tarantino has crafted what he considers to be a fairy tale. When the climax of the movie happens, it works despite the historical inaccuracy. Under this logic, a movie starting with “Based on a True Story…” you need to be as accurate as possible. Unfortunately this movie is as close to the true story as the ones you read in the National Enquirer. Writer/director Angela Robinson intentionally avoided talking to any of the family members and instead cites an unnamed source for the basis of the polyamorous scenes in this movie. If I weren’t told this movie was about the origin of Wonder Woman only to be given a wholly inaccurate telling of that origin, I’d probably be writing a different review. If this movie were written by a man, I could probably write off the things that bothered me the most.

I went into the theater hoping for a feminist movie that made me feel powerful and proud. Instead, what I received was a poor representation of polyamory similar to the poor representation of BDSM in 50 Shades. I’m a big believer in polyamory. I think when both partners agree it’s best for them it can be an amazing and beautiful thing. While there is no solid proof that this was polyamory and not just polygamy, I can understand wanting to make the family polyamorous. I would love to see a positive representation of a polyamorous family. Instead we see a wife who can never decide what she wants. While Elizabeth is trying to be a strong woman and a great feminist, she can’t handle when Olive wants something she doesn’t understand or agree with. Instead of being a woman encouraging her husband to write a new comic book character that uses love over force, Elizabeth, who was the one that told her husband to make the character female, is a nagging wife that doesn’t believe it’s a good idea at all. The constant negative representation of a strong woman in Elizabeth is probably what frustrates me the most. Rebecca Hall plays Elizabeth so well but I want her to be given a better character to play. I want to see this writer/director write her own original stories because all the actors really did their best for her. I could go on forever with criticisms of Elizabeth and just how disappointing the Wonder Woman parts are but I’ll spare you. For now.

If this movie focused on DISC theory, I might love this movie. Elizabeth is very dominant throughout the movie and when she gives into to what other people want, it is often compliance. Olive is the perfect example of someone being submissive, induced by this couple to give into her wildest fantasies.

There are so many more things I could nitpick. I laughed when his lung cancer was made way too obvious and in a somewhat slapstick way. One of the positive reviews I read (in an attempt to convince myself I was wrong) incorrectly described the most visually appealing scene in this movie and I think that says it all. When the positive reviews rewrite the movie itself to set a character (Elizabeth) in a more positive light, something has gone horribly wrong. Revisionist nostalgia for a movie should not hit you that quickly. My husband also hated this movie but more for it being a cookie cutter Oscar Bait picture. The only movie I liked less this year was A Ghost Story and I don't believe it could get worse than those two.

Review: Blade Runner 2049

            People usually cry while watching movies for two reasons: they’re happy that the central couple have overcome their difference & fallen in love or they’re sad because a beloved character is meeting a heroic end before the journey is complete. Then, there’s a recent discovery I made about myself (and I hope I’m not alone on this): I cry after movies that I find to be marvelous. Some motion pictures are so spectacular that a verbal response is not enough to express the magnitude to which I am overwhelmed with joy. That reaction has happened to me three times in my life: 2011’s Hugo, 2015’s Spotlight and 2017’s Blade Runner 2049.

            I would usually summarize the movie I’m reviewing in this paragraph but Warner Brothers & Sony have asked that we don’t mention certain plot elements so I’m just going to say that Harrison Ford does return as Deckard & Ryan Gosling is the titular Blade Runner. Now, onto my unfiltered praise of Blade Runner 2049.

            There are few motion pictures that are as gorgeous as this one. The most impressive thing you’ll notice is the individual color palates designed for each of the separate locations. The dazzling blue & purple of rainy downtown Los Angeles gives it a look of hopeful despair. The police station has a black & white aesthetic gives the proceedings a more serious turn. The halls of the Wallace Corporation have this grand gold tint to them, showing off the success & wealth of the company. My personal favorite are the opening shots of the Vegas sequence, which tweaks the Wallace gold & adds brown & orange to create dazzling works of art that deserve to be hung next to your family photos. Kudos goes out to the entire set design team & legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins, who if he doesn’t win at the Oscars this year there might be a coup. The sound design rocks the theatre in a good way and the score by Hans Zimmer & Benjamin Wallfisch pays homage to Vangelis when warranted while holding its own a vast majority of the time.

            Dazzling visuals only go so far. A movie needs to have a compelling story. There will be some who say Blade Runner 2049 is too slow. That is true but screenwriters Hampton Fancher (co-writer of the 1982 original) & Michael Green (Logan, Murder on the Orient Express) make it deliberate & delicate. There are reasons we spend so much time w/ K & Joi. We linger on a scene in Wallace Corp with a new replicant model because every scene has its place. These kinds of scenes also invite future viewings to see just how complex & deep the themes go.

            Blade Runner K is in about 95% of the movie so whoever was to play him would have to be the rock to keep the picture stable & Gosling is more than up to the task. It’s not his best nor his most Oscar worthy performance but Gosling able to add just enough facial complexities to K. Ford shows that he still has “it” & still cares about the performances he gives. Leto is weird per usual but also effective in his genius role.

            We live in the era where the female badass reigns & Blade Runner 2049 might have the best on this side of Furiosa. Sylvia Hoeks plays Luv with an elegance that many bigger names couldn’t pull off while also being the CEO of Wallace and the “Head of Security”. K’s boss in the LAPD is Lt. Joshi played by Robin Wright who couldn’t give a bad performance these days if she tried. There are three other actresses who are great in their roles but describing them would probably spoil too much. Ana de Armas plays Joi, Mackenzie Davis is Mariette and Carla Juri plays Dr. Ana Stelline.

            All of this is supervised by Denis Villeneuve, whose two previous films Sicario & Arrival are beloved by everyone but yours truly. This feature, however, makes me question why I’ve been hesitant about looking into more of his work. Villeneuve has created something that not only expands on the ideas of 35 years ago but also makes them accessible to those who are patient enough to let the movie work on them. Those who make it all the way to the end are rewarded with an ending that is not just a delight for the eyes but for the mind, heart & soul.

            From this point forward, when I refer to cinema as art, Blade Runner 2049 will be my first example. There is a picturesque elegance to it that bigger or more Oscar-y features could never touch. The sprawling screenplay heightens an already expansive world into a dystopian wonderland. The acting, especially by the women you don’t see in any marketing, is sublime. I’m calling it: I will not see a better movie in 2017 than this.

*****