"We're not critics. We're professional fan-girls." --- This blog is dedicated to movies and the entertainment industry. We use random selection to bring into light the best and worst of streaming films and entertainment news.
Streaming Services: Shudder Movie Name/Year: Violation (2021) Genre: Drama, Horror Length: 107nminutes Rating: Unrated Production/Distribution: DM Films, Pacific Northwest Pictures, Shudder Directors: Dusty Mancinelli, Madeleine
Sims-Fewer Writers: Dusty Mancinelli, Madeleine
Sims-Fewer Actors: Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Anna
Maguire, Jesse LaVercombe, Obi Abili, Jasmin Geljo, Cynthia Ashperger Blurb from IMDb: A troubled woman on the edge of divorce
returns home to her younger sister after years apart. But when her sister and
brother-in-law betray her trust, she embarks on a vicious crusade of revenge.
Cat’s Point of View: I’m collecting my thoughts as I begin this review because Violation was simply all over the place.
I feel I must start, however, with the disclaimer that opens the movie. "VIOLATION contains sexual violence,
graphic sexual content, and extreme violence/gore. Discretion is advised."
One would hope that very young eyes have not been given free rein of the
Shudder streaming platform – but just as an extra heads up: this film is not
for kids at all. We’re talking full-frontal male nudity and some dialogue you
might expect in a porno… as the least offensive bits. Violation has a
powerful message, and it is quite the gut-punch – as the quotes in the trailer
suggest – but all that gets muddied and lost in its disjointed nature. There
are so many odd transitions and timeline shifts that it almost makes your head
spin. There was one scene transition that quite literally spins. Viewers with
motion sickness that get disoriented with first-person perspective might want
to close their eyes for that part.
I spent so much of this movie confused…or cringing. Part of
that stemmed from some of the cinematography decisions and the crazy scene
transitions. Half the time I was wondering if this was supposed to be some sort
of nature documentary that accidentally got spliced into the revenge flick I
was supposed to be watching. It took a slow burn and drug it out to a near
painful level. Seriously – I felt every minute of this one. Please tell me why there were so many long scenes of viewing
a person from the back, or their silhouette, as they stare outward?
Ultimately, I put together the backward–telling of the
story events. The tale is tragic and all sorts of messed up on so many levels.
I just don’t know if the meaning really makes it past the art-house treatment
it was given. I don’t see myself recommending this one to anyone… ever,
really. There are better examples of revenge films on similar subject matters,
even.
Streaming Services: Netflix Movie Name/Year: Moxie (2021) Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music Length: 111 minutes Rating: PG-13 Production/Distribution: Paper Kite Productions,
Netflix Director: Amy Poehler Writer: Jennifer Mathieu, Tamara Chestna, Dylan Meyer Actors: Hadley Robinson, Lauren Tsai, Alycia Pascual-Pena, Nico
Hiraga, Sabrina Haskett, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sydney Park, Anjelika
Washington, Emily Hopper, Josie Totah, Amy Poehler, Ike Barinholtz, Marcia Gay
Harden, Clark Gregg Blurb from IMDb: Inspired by her mom's
rebellious past and a confident new friend, a shy 16-year-old publishes an
anonymous zine calling out sexism at her school.
Selina’s Point of View: Moxie was incredible. I see a lot of
critics complaining that the subject matter was a bit too “on-the-nose.” I can’t
argue with the idea of that, but I can argue it’s necessity. This film covered
some essential subjects. A lot of them we’ve seen bits or pieces of floating
around in newer teen flicks – but we don’t get a whole lot of the depth of it.
I get it. Some of the topics that Moxie touches on are difficult to
discuss with kids and that makes it difficult to turn into consumable media for
their demographic. Moxie didn’t try to hide the worst of it.
It was very open, very in-your-face and – yes – very on-the-nose.
I think the book
should be required reading, or the movie required viewing, for high school
kids. A lot of the
subjects are expected. It covers the issue of interrupting, sexualization, and
devaluing women. It goes into racial relations. It even touched on handicap
accessibility. All these are a little bit easier to touch on in any teen film,
because you can do it subtly. What impressed me
was that Moxie also went into the failure of authority figures. When covering a
feminist subject matter, it would have been simple to make the ignorant
principle a male. Instead, we have a woman looking to cover up what’s going on
in the school because she doesn’t want to lose her status. The movie went into it
hard, right out of the gate. There was no questioning throughout the story if
things could have been made better by one of the students going to a teacher.
The answer was, decidedly, no.
I feel that, on an
exceptionally deep level. When I was a
freshman in Murrow High School, I experienced something like that. One of the
seniors grabbed my breast in a stairwell while his friends laughed. A dean came
along and saw me punch him. When I explained what happened, he was very clear
that there was nothing he could do about what that guy did to me, and that if I
went anywhere near him again, I would be expelled. Kids are
constantly told that if someone hurts them, assaulted them, harasses them, or
anything else – they’re supposed to tell an authority figure. They are rarely
told what to do if that person won’t, or can’t, help them.
Moxie
considers the
importance of being loud and unignorable. It teaches teens that if they find
their world to be one where no one will help them, that they need to find
someone who will. Even if it has to be other students. I’ve always been
a fan of rebellion, especially like the kind seen in this flick. Nothing gets
better without someone kicking up a fuss and disturbing the status quo. It’s important
for kids to know that. They need to know what the right kind of trouble is, and
this movie shows that in an entertaining, and very literal, way that I can
absolutely get behind. Moxie was good, but it was more important
than basic entertainment. It was a lesson in equality and being heard. When my
daughter is old enough, I’ll be watching it with her.
