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BLINK TWICE
Comparisons will be inevitable between Blink Twice and Get Out, another feature from a first-time director blending horror-movie thrills with social commentary. Fortunately, Zoë Kravitz has the insight and flair to make her debut stand out among the crowd of Jordan Peele imitators as a tense, chilling journey in its own right. Our story follows Frida (Naomi Ackie) and Jess (Alia Shawkat), cocktail waitresses who are invited to a whirlwind getaway on the private island of tech mogul Slater King (Channing Tatum). However, between lounging by the pool by day and drug-fueled bacchanalias by night, our heroines notice objects, people, and memories begin to go missing and suspect that there may be serpents – literal and metaphorical – lurking in their Eden. That commitment to heavy-handed symbolism is what helps elevate Blink Twice into the marvel that it is. Like Spike Lee, Kravitz approaches filmmaking with the fearless abandon of a creator unwilling to hold anything back, using all the tools at her disposal – particularly an eerie, uncomfortable approach to sound mixing – to craft both a disjointed first half and a taught second act that emphasizes the powerlessness the girls experience. Ackie in particular shines as a modern take on the scream queen, scared but resourceful and imminently relatable. There’s a messiness to Blink Twice that sometimes causes the film to stumble – like another Peele feature, Us, it prioritizes metaphor over plot mechanics – but the craft and enthusiasm involved make up for its missteps. Blink Twice is ultimately a triumph in horror filmmaking and a remarkable debut from a director with a bright future ahead of her. R. MORGAN SHAUNETTE. Cinema 21, AMC, Regal and Cinemark locations.
CUCKOO
Hunter Schafer shows star power in her first lead role, playing teenager Gretchen in writer-director Tilman Singer’s Cuckoo. Gretchen’s family moves to a resort in the Bavarian Alps, where her father is set to help a mysterious man named Herr König (Dan Stevens). Gretchen suspects something is afoot after both being attacked by a woman and continuously hearing a shrieking noise. The plot begins on an odd note and gets even stranger as it moves forward, but the movie makes less sense the more Singer tries answering Cuckoo’s questions. But the more off-the-wall horror and science fiction scenarios work thanks to Singer’s style and Schafer’s commitment. Stevens is also a hoot as König, tapping Vincent Price with his sinister politeness. He has “villain” painted on him right out of the gate, which Singer thankfully doesn’t try to subvert, instead letting Stevens sink his teeth into the role’s nefarious potential. Cuckoo gets points for its originality and unexpected turns, even if its message about preservation becomes muddled along the way. Singer’s film might not be a slam dunk, but Schafer proves she is an actress to keep an eye on. R. DANIEL RESTER. Cinema 21, Laurelhurst Theater, Studio One Theaters, AMC, Regal and Cinemark locations.
FAYE
Faye Dunaway is poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel in what may be her most iconic photo. It’s 6 a.m. the morning after she receives her Oscar for Network—newspapers scattered at her feet, gold statuette on the table, her head cocked sideways as if to say, “All that’s left is the rest of my life.” Present-day Dunaway calls the photo simply “very memorable”—which is about the conventional attitude this documentary takes toward her life and career. Faye contains a proper sitdown with Dunaway, clips from some of the 20th century’s best films (Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown), and corrections of the record about her “difficult” on-set reputation vs. her artistic ambition. But you can’t help but imagine more interesting Dunaway docs. We ever-so-briefly see the octogenarian leg pressing 100 pounds. Is that what she does all day? Her work was nothing short of an obsession, but there are too few moments of fellow artists speaking directly about its particulars—the sizzling rage, agony and intelligence that made her an icon.
Instead, director Laurent Bouzereau leans too heavily on platitudes and definitions. Bonnie and Clyde took the ‘60s by storm because it was a Tumultuous Era®. Her semi-recent bipolar diagnosis, she says repeatedly, concerns her brain chemistry. The drag community has reclaimed Mommie Dearest … nothing further to add.
Faye is polite and perfunctory. Faye Dunaway the actor never was. TV-14. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Now streaming on Hulu and Max.
CALIGULA: THE ULTIMATE CUT
Was the world clamoring for a new version of Caligula, the Bob Guccione-produced boondoggle that aimed to fuse porn and high art in a story about the titular megalomaniacal Roman emperor? Producer Thomas Negovan seemed to think so. He has assembled the so-called Ultimate Cut using the original camera negatives, remastered for 4K, to bring the parade of sex and violence as close as possible to the original vision of screenwriter Gore Vidal. The finished product is something of a Pyrrhic victory for all involved. Yes, the copious unsimulated sex scenes originally injected into the film by Guccione were removed, and the thoughtful editing allows viewers to more fully appreciate the opulent sets designed by Danilo Donati and Malcolm McDowall’s deliciously unhinged turn as Caligula. But none of it makes the movie any less of a slog to get through. The sheer amount of blood and clothes being shed through the film’s three-hour runtime has a numbing effect that dulls the impact of the nuanced performance by Helen Mirren as Caligula’s scheming wife Caesonia and the strong set pieces scattered among the carnage. NR. ROBERT HAM. Living Room Theaters.