Delayed Reaction: Sometimes I Think About Dying

Premise: A lonely woman in a small town begins dating a new coworker.

As I watched this movie with friends, I repeatedly pointed out how aspects of this reminded me of Stranger Than Fiction. For me, there is no higher praise. I am a person who has trouble opening up and gets set in my ways, so characters like Daisy Ridley's Fran really speak to me. Even the bits of darkness that she's afraid to reveal. I think Ridley is incredible in this movie. It is a restrained performance. I really didn't think she could go this small. Just as good is Dave Merheje as Robert, the potential love interest. He's just very good as a nice guy. Outgoing but not overbearing.

What I love most about this movie is the dance as Fran and Robert feel each other out. Neither speaks a language the other can understand. Robert is someone who can befriend anyone, so his advances look indistinguishable from being a friendly guy. Fran, on the other hand, gives you nothing in her responses. While something like making a joke in the office instant messenger is huge for her, you'd have to know her really well already to understand that. It's frustrating in a good way as a viewer to see the fight they get into and know how much it would be resolved by just knowing each other a little better.

The title comes from Fran's recurring habit of imagining ways that something could kill her. The one drawback to the movie is that it doesn't find a way to make that more than a character quirk. It could be removed without damaging anything that I loved about the movie. I didn't hate the inclusion of it. It just felt extraneous. There is a part of me that thinks it could turn into a weird inside joke in their relationship. A lot like Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen joking about how they'd kill each other in Take This Waltz.

So now I'm comparing this to Stranger Than Fiction AND Take This Waltz. I really must've loved it.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Cat Person

Premise: A college student begins dating a man she met at the movie theater she works at and goes through all the benchmarks of modern dating.

I missed when the New Yorker story this is based on blew up. From what I gather, the movie covers everything in the story then adds on a final act where everything goes haywire. I think that was needed for this to work as a movie, but I think it also highlights how this works best as a short story.

The most interesting thing about the movie is how much it works as a Rorschach test for the viewer. I watched this with a few friends and loved seeing how we all responded to aspects of the movie differently. As a straight male in my mid-30s, I kept trying to cut Nicolas Braun's character some slack. Others seemed to more immediately side with Emilia Jones. And we all most sided with Geraldine Viswanathan as the best friend.

One part in particular comes to mind when thinking about the complexity of this. There's the scene after the breakup when Margot (Jones) sees Robert (Braun) hanging outside the movie theater. She ends up calling the police after he leaves, which does make a kind of sense. She can feel threatened by that and why wait until it's too late to do something about it? On the other hand, I see Robert as a guy who got abruptly dumped and can't go to the movie theater he used to go to anymore. Maybe he got as far as the theater to actually see something then got paralyzed by the idea of an awkward confrontation. The idea of this movie, especially since it is only from Margot's perspective is that there's no easy way to read any situation. And that's what I liked most about the movie.

The last act does go too far and gets to a point where I can't defend any character. Instead of waffling between whose side I'm on, I just ended up on neither side, which is far less interesting to me. Then the side story with Viswanathan's internet feuds has nowhere near enough time to develop. It felt very forced in.

All that said, the movie got me thinking a lot, which means it was effective in a way many movies aren't. Emilia Jones proves that CODA was no fluke. Braun is very deft at adapting to the way the view of him in the movie continually changes. He can be charming, pathetic, and threatening in the same scene without really changing the performance in large ways.

Verdict: Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Magazine Dreams

Premise: An amateur bodybuilder goes a little nuts to pursue his dream.

Ok. I did a great job getting all caught up on these to immediately fall weeks behind. Let's see if I can power through a few of these. Sorry for short-changing some movies that deserve more discussion.

This movie is all about Jonathan Majors' very committed performance. I think he's incredible in a movie that asks him to be very unlikable and hard to sympathize with. His incredible physique is basically a special effect. The sequence that I'm calling "the Whiplash scene" is very impressive. Just complete mania and obsession and determination on screen.

I do think the movie dragged on toward the end. There were just a few too many chapters, especially for an ending that backs out of all the threads. Not that I wanted Majors to go full Joker.

Verdict: Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Fantastic Machine

Premise: Cameras are cool, man. Just look at all the ways we use them.

It's seems that a portion of Sundance docs each year goes toward furthering the discussion of technology's place in our lives. That's definitely the purpose of Fantastic Machine: a loosely structure doc about the many, many uses of cameras throughout time.

I don't know that I left this movie with any clear message about video technology. It mostly serves as a reminder of the possibilities. It just as easily could've been cut into a series of YouTube videos with roughly the same effect. Much like a YouTube rabbit hole, Fantastic Machine was engaging from beginning to end. Before I knew it, 90 minutes had passed and I wasn't sure where the time went.

Verdict: Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: AUM: The Cult at the End of the World

Premise: A documentary about the Japanese cult that attacked the Tokyo subway system in the 1990s.

I love a good cult story. How did it grow? What did they believe? Who was their leader? It's all fascinating stuff. And if there's a series or movie about it, something wild happened with the group. It's hard to mess this kind of story up.

AUM: The Cult at the End of the World does a fine job covering the AUM cult in under 2 hours. I got the feeling watching this that it could've easily been a multi-part doc series. There were so many corners of AUM left under-explored. And it's a good sign when a doc leaves me wanting to learn more. The filmmaking was pretty straightforward. They knew to let the story drive the movie rather than try to inject their own special flair.

The main limitation of the movie is one that's common of this kind of movie. I wish I knew more about the leader. Whenever I'm watching a doc about a cult, the question I'm implicitly asking is "Why did people follow this guy?" I can't say I came away from this movie with an answer. They paint Shoko Asahara as an interesting man, but there's little direct footage of him that captures the charisma that enchanted his followers.

I did appreciate the ballsy move of the movie to call out the Japanese press at the time for normalizing AUM. Surely, they must see the irony of making an entertaining documentary of AUM then complaining that giving a platform to these cults is dangerous.

Verdict: Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Kim's Video

Premise: A man tracks down the famous Kim's Video library from New York to a small town in Italy.

The story of Kim's Video is a fascinating one. It was this small New York City video franchise that collected an enormous library of legal and illegal films. Both proper releases and bootlegs you couldn't find anywhere else. It was part of a specific scene throughout the 80s and 90s. The number of famous former employees and members is extensive. The founder of Kim's Video is an enigmatic South Korean businessman who you'd never guess owned such an establishment. When it closed in 2009, as all video stores eventually did, they sent the collection to a town in Italy that promised to maintain and digitize the collection. While it did go to Italy, the collection was not taken care of. I love the idea of a documentary that tracks down the how, why, and what next of Kim's Video.

Unfortunately, the filmmaker of this also seems to be the most insufferable film nerd. Throughout the movie, co-director/co-writer David Redmon is compelled to prove his film nerd bonafides with references to all the movies he's seen. He can't just go to Italy. He has to muse about how much it was like the Corleons in The Godfather. He can't even just cut in the clip of the reference. He has to point it out every time. If the movie just disposed of that aspect, I'd bump this several letter grades. I can't express just how annoying that was.

I was also not a fan of the ending when they appear to either invent or exaggerate the tale of how the collection makes it back home. I really wish the filmmaker would've trusted how interesting the story was on its own. They added so many unneeded flourishes that both distracted and annoyed. Hopefully, this movie at least leads to a more in-depth Wikipedia article or investigative piece on The Ringer or something. I'd love to read more about this story without the annoying stuff strewn throughout this doc.

Verdict: Strongly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: 20 Days in Mariupol

Premise: A small group of journalists capture footage from early in the Russian invasion of Ukraine and try to get out alive.

This goes in that category of documentaries, like The Act of Killing, that I have a hard time recommending, per se. It's a very good doc, but it's a hard watch. This tells the 20-day story of a group of journalists in Mariupol getting footage of all the awful things happening there, looking for a way to send the footage out to the world (wifi is hard to come by in a war zone), and getting out safely when exits are blocked from all sides.

I saw this the same day that I watched Victim/Suspect and the difference in style and quality were stark. Victim/Suspect kept forcing the story to be about the journalist investigating, even though there was no clear reason to give her that focus. In 20 Days, the movie is the filmmaker's story. It's about where he goes and what his struggles are. He does everything he can to stay out of focus though. If he's at a hospital that has just been bombed, it's not about how he came this close to getting bombed. It's about the people who were hit.

Again, it's a hard watch. There are dead bodies throughout. Children in peril too. Not to sensationalize. Rather, to reflect what was actually happening. If you have the stomach for it, this is a worthwhile movie to watch. But I understand if you don't want to go through it.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: A Little Prayer

Premise: The patriarch of a suburban family realizes that he can't help his adult children as much as he'd like.

I had a lot of trepidation going into this movie. I haven't loved the films of director Angus MacLachlan that I'd seen. In particular, Junebug - which A Little Prayer looks the most like on the surface - left a bad taste in my mouth. I couldn't shake the feeling that Junebug was a movie from a more worldly, cultured person looking down on small town life. Or at the very least, it was patronizing about it. I didn't think that I needed more of that from him.

I'm so glad I took a chance on A Little Prayer though, because I really loved this movie. A Little Prayer isn't really about much. Bill (David Strathairn) lives a pleasant enough middle-class life. He's happily married to Venida (Celia Weston) and runs his own business with his son, David (Will Pullen). David and his wife Tammy (Jane Levy) live in a guest house* out back. Bill realizes David is carrying on an affair with a woman at work and doesn't know what to do about it. He loves his daughter-in-law and also doesn't want to overstep. Around the same time, Bill's daughter Patti (Anna Camp) and her daughter move back into the house after the latest dispute with her bad news husband. So, the movie is essentially about Bill realizing the limitations of his ability to help his children. There are no huge blow ups. It's a gentle movie in that way. And that's what I loved about it.

*It's not really a guest house. There's no kitchen. It seems to just be a room. The point is, don't mistake that description for thinking Bill is rich. Maybe just barely upper-middle-class...Maybe.

There aren't many people built to wear 70 as well as Strathairn. He keeps this movie chugging along in the least intrusive way. Personally, Jane Levy is the real breakout for me. I've liked Levy forever. She's a lot of why I opted to see this. I haven't seen her in this mode though. Her character is just the nicest, sweetest person, but it's the kind of sweetness that you know is a choice. She has some darkness that she refuses to let win. I would absolutely love it if she managed to get awards love for this like Amy Adams did back for Junebug. That's doubtful to happen though, since that role is sort of split between what Levy and Camp are doing in this. Still, incredibly impressive.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Theater Camp

Premise: Imagine if Christopher Guest made a movie about theater camp.

This is one of the easier Sundance movies to talk about because it's one of the ones that is only concerned with being a comedy. It's not a "Sundance dramedy" which normally means it's a straight drama but with actors who normally do comedies. Theater Camp is just a silly movie about a struggling theater camp that's trying to carry on after their director goes into a coma after a freak children's theater accident.

Theater Camp is shot in a mocumentary style, reminiscent to Christopher Guest's movies or Spinal Tap. I don't know if it was as improvised as those comparisons, but it sure felt like it was. I've never been the biggest fan of Guests movies or even something like Curb Your Enthusiasm. While they can result in some great jokes, the rest of the time feels like stalling. I can see the actors thinking on their feet too much. I get the appeal but it doesn't work as fully on me.

Given that, I liked Theater Camp about as much as I could. Directors Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman know this world well. No doubt a lot of the characters and beats come from their own experiences. Both the adult and child casts are game for anything. I particularly like Ayo Edebiri as the clearly unqualified camp instructor.

I do wish the movie had some more time for the younger cast. I get why there wasn't. It's incredibly hard to cast a campful of under 16 actors with impeccable comic timing and instincts who can be relied on to punch up lines and riff. Just because I get why something is next to impossible though, doesn't mean I can't point out that it didn't fully work.

Theater Camp is a shaggy movie. But it's short, has a strong cast, and reflects a deep understanding of the topic. You could do a lot worse than that.

Verdict: Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: The Persian Version

Premise: A Persian-American woman reflects on her and her mother's stories.

This is a fun and nimble movie. From the opening credits, I could tell that even if the movie ended up being a complete mess, I was going to have fun watching it. It all starts with star Layla Mohammadi as Leila. She carries herself like she's already had a Nickelodeon series and 5 teen RomComs under her belt. I was shocked to find out that she's relatively new and has only a couple TV episode credits. I expect that to change. Her narration and direct addresses to the audience keep this movie humming along. It's almost comical how much this movie shows of the deep reserve of under-utilized Persian* actors there are out there. Leila's family is huge, and everyone is quick to make an impression.

*Or generally Middle-Eastern. I'm not sure the background of every actor nor familiar enough to identify ethnicities by look.

This is a weird screenplay to talk about. It won the Screenplay award at Sundance, which is well-deserved. However, I also feel like the screenplay could be improved a lot. You see, this is a movie that covers a lot. Part of why Leila (and later Kamand Shafieisabet as Leila's mother when she was much younger) narrates this is because there's so much packed into this movie. Functionally, narration is telling, not showing, which breaks a writing 101 rule. Personally, I'm fine with that as long as it’s done really well. With The Persian Version, I can't shake the feeling that writer/director Maryam Keshavarz had too many ideas and wasn't willing to kill any of her darlings. You see, Leila is an interesting character who could carry a movie about her getting pregnant despite being a lesbian. Her large family creates a plethora of dynamics to explore. This movie could be 9 Months with a Persian twist if it wanted to be. However, the movie is also an ode to Leila's mother. It not only covers all the ways her mother overcame hardships in America but also the scandal that cause her and Leila's father to leave Iran. It's so much for one movie. Especially one that is 1h47m. Essentially my problem with this movie is that it feels like Keshavarz got 90% of where she needed to with the screenplay. That's still a very good screenplay and better than most. It feels like it could be even better though. There's no reason this movie couldn't be as efficient as a Clueless or Lady Bird. In other words, this is a movie where my only complaint is that it's very good but it could've been great.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend