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The Wave (2019)
Uniteresting & Unimaginative
The Wave, so far, falls at the bottom of my list of movies for 2020. It's a weird, psychedelic version of The Hangover, but with none of the humour, characterization, or plot. Even the visuals, which should be surreal (because the movie is based around a drug trip), instead looks like an Instagram/Snapchat filter, making sure that this film has, in fact, absolutely nothing going for it.
The Wave tells the story of Frank the insurance lawyer and his buddy Jeff (a criminal underutilisation of Donald Faison) as they navigate their way through a party. When Frank does a hit of something from a mysterious dealer (played by the ever-Irish Tommy Flanagan), he finds himself the life and soul of the party-until it ends and he finds out that he's still high.
What's more, the girl he was partying with, Natalie, has gone missing. Now forced to retrace his steps with Jeff, he uncovers the disaster of his night, forced to confront his decisions in daylight while still high from the night before. There's so many things happening in this movie and none of it is interesting: not the main storyline involving him looking for the girl and finding out what drug he was given, not the B-story involving the insurance family; nothing at all about the movie stands out in any way. Even the music is so-so.
The movie is ridiculous in its presentation and characterisation. There's the goody-two-shoes husband with the screeching harpy of a wife; the cool black friend who's a bit of a sleaze; a whole bunch of superficial nonsense masquerading as philosophy; bland, unimaginative cinematography; a drug dealer who delights in being ultra-violent; and that's their only characterisation, mind you. The only character points they have are these. The characters have no depth or substance in any way, and the same goes for the writing. Although the dialogue does flow naturally, the plot does not, choosing tacky filters, and conversations meant to be deep, over actual plot progression. I wish I could write more about it, but anything more than what I've said would merely constitute filler, which is pretty much the entirety of this film.
Much like Inherit The Viper, The Wave suffers from poor writing and characterization, with the characters all one-note and unimaginative. The plot hinges too hard on the mystery drug and, by the end of it, you've forgotten all about it. There's some vague gesturing toward karmic balance and how decisions have effects on people, but the truth is, if you're looking for philosophy, well, that princess is in another castle.
Zombi Child (2019)
Pretentiousness Masquerading As Thought-Provoking
Zombi Child blends voodoo, boarding school, pretty women, and some sort of avant-garde horror into a daub of mediocrity, painting in broad, superficial strokes that look pretty but ultimately amount to nothing of value. It tells two disconnected stories (or at least, that's what writer/director Bertrand Bonello wants you to think): one of a reanimated man forced to work in sugar plantations, and another of a young, high-school girl trying to fit into boarding school while pining for her boyfriend. The film lacks any tension, dramatic or otherwise; although being touted as a horror film it lacks suspense; and it lacks an engaging storyline and characters, making the almost two-hour film really feel its runtime.
Zombi Child suffers from various problems, although not all at once. It starts off promising, setting up the two storylines quite well with vivid imagery and fantastic cinematography. Almost immediately after, however, the endgame becomes painfully obvious and the rest of the film is merely a slog to that point, watching teen girls be angsty and sighing while speaking to each other in hushed tones under muted sepia lights. The writing is painfully lacklustre, with dialogue woefully inadequate and characters chewing the scenery more than anything else at any given time. Lack of dialogue doesn't bother me; after all, Beanpole does a fantastic job with sparse dialogue; however, the sparse dialogue in Zombi Child, designed to come off as artistic, only presents itself as shallow and vapid.
Unlike The Wave, however, Zombi Child is not a complete loss of cinema. The film works best when it completely gives itself up to the legend, with the mysterious, occult scenes where voodoo is performed a highlight in cinematography. The acting is brilliant: both women (Louise Labeque and Wislanda Louimat) perform admirably in the spotlight, doing the best with what they're given: Labeque playing the vapid, love-lorn teenager filled with angst and hormones, and Louimat playing what appears to be the only person of colour in the film.
The final third of the movie is its saving grace, with beautiful cinematography and displays of Haitian (or is it voodoo?) culture that almost make the slog through the first two-thirds worth it.
Zombi Child could have been so much more if it had focussed its attentions on the tale it was trying to tell. It wastes its time talking high-school romance and pining for faraway lovers, when it could have been trying to build interest and suspense. It also might have helped if we, the audience, weren't aware of how things were going to turn out in the first ten minutes or so. In fact, it might have been better if Zombi Child had been two movies: one exploring the life of a man returned from the grave and forced into slavery, and one where a young woman does everything in her power to keep herself together after her love falls apart.
Instead, what we have is two halves of slightly under-baked pies struggling to be one. I mean, I'd eat it, but I think I'd enjoy it a lot more if it had been something else. At least it looks pretty.