The White Tiger

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on March 19, 2021 and ABC Central Victoria on March 29, 2021.

(MA15+) ★★★★

Director: Ramin Bahrani

Cast: Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Mahesh Manjrekar, Vijay Maurya, Kamlesh Gill, Swaroop Sampat, Vedant Sinha, Nalneesh Neel.

No one was aware that one does not simply drive to Mordor.

There's a sly dig at Slumdog Millionaire in this gritty Indian drama that perfectly sums up the key difference between these two rags-to-riches films. In Danny Boyle's Oscar-winning gem, it is fantastical luck courtesy of a miraculous TV program that eventually allows its "slumdog" hero to escape his horrible life in India's underclass.

But in The White Tiger, our low-caste protagonist has to use cunning, ruthlessness and flexible ethics to drag himself up from the bottom. "Don't think for a second there's a million-rupee game show you can win to get out," he narrates at one point. He knows that to escape the slums of India, you can't wait for a fairy godmother, unless your plan is to rob them.

This world-weary hero is Balram (Gourav), born into poverty and destined to stay there. But after watching his father work himself to death, he decides to escape his fate, wrangling a job as a driver for a wealthy family. From the front seat of their air-conditioned cars, he witnesses the corruption of India and comes to the realisation that corruption is the only way to truly escape from the underclass.

Much like Slumdog Millionaire, The White Tiger is based on an award-winning book that examines the poverty and inequality entrenched in Indian life. Faithfully adapted by writer-director Ramin Bahrani from Australian-Indian writer Aravind Adiga's wonderful Man Booker Prize-winning novel, it's a fascinating story starring a hero that struggles to stay on the right side of likeable, but who is all the more compelling for it.

Bahrani's direction captures the dirt and the glitz of its seesawing story with equal fidelity. There's a crackling energy in places and a quiet menace elsewhere as we follow Balram through his seemingly impossible mission to break his own coding - the idea, reinforced every day by his society, that he was meant for nothing more than servitude.

In Gourav, Bahrani found a perfect Balram. It's a multi-faceted performance that ranges from gurning humour and facile subjugation to brooding rage and emotional complexity. It's a career-making role, and Gourav is flawless.

The key supports of Rao and Chopra Jonas are also impressive, particularly the latter, who brings great steel and passion to her role as Pinky, the driven woman who has as little tolerance for India's caste system and outdated social mores as Balram. 

The White Tiger is a little slow and repetitive in places, but this is a minor quibble. For the most part, it's a ferocious takedown of India's shadowy secrets, seemingly aimed at Westerners, but with a tone and sensibility that feels honest. Bahrani has outdone himself with the adaptation (a worthy Oscar nom) and the direction, and Gourav is a revelation.

Chaos Walking

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on March 19, 2021.

(PG) ★★★

Director: Doug Liman.

Cast: Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Mads Mikkelsen, Demián Bichir, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas, David Oyelowo, Kurt Sutter, Ray McKinnon.

He had the weirdest case of headlice she had ever seen.

Sometimes a great premise is enough to get a film across the line, even when other aspects of the movie fail. Chaos Walking is one of those films.

Even as the inconsistencies pile up and the story sputters out via a couple of underwhelming confrontations, the ideas at play and the committed cast bringing them to life manage to bring this unwieldy beast home in a vaguely enjoyable way. It's like that pilot who landed the plane on the Hudson - it wasn't pretty but it got there (although, perversely, the film version of that story is a fine example of a solid premise failing to get a film home satisfactorily).

Based on the first book of Patrick Ness' YA series of the same name, Chaos Walking is set in the future on a new world colonised by humans. Into this world crashes Viola (Ridley), who discovers two alarming things upon arrival - all the women on the world are dead, and the unfiltered thoughts of men are always on display due to a phenomena known as the Noise.

The Noise is the film's strongest aspect, although the full capabilities of this power could have been better represented earlier in proceedings to save some head-scratching moments later. Displayed with a fair amount of visual (and audio) flair, it's a hook that helps keep the plot rolling.

It's also timely. It's hard to discuss this without spoilers (though you probably know where this is all going), but in the real world, the filtered thoughts of many men are bad enough, without all their unfiltered thoughts also being on display. It's a terrifying prospect, and a compelling premise.

The setting and story are solid enough too. Working from a script co-written by Ness that deviates a long way from his own book, the film unfolds as a journey to find not only safety but the truth. Some of those truths are unsurprising, some raise more questions than they answer, and some make no sense, but somehow the whole thing holds together, even as it promises to fall apart. Just enough of the world and its happenings are compelling.

Credit is due to Holland, Ridley and Mikkelsen, who give strong, believable performances. Ditto to the bit players - Bichir, Erivo and Oyelowo - who are all fully invested to this world and help it overcome its inconsistencies. Ridley particularly does so in the face of an underwritten character who is unfortunately more plot-instigator than fully-fleshed-out person, while Oyelowo's firebrand preacher is similarly under-developed.

Another saving grace seems to have been the reshoots (which unfortunately explain Holland's changing haircut throughout, and apparently made the film's title all the more fitting). That this long-delayed and troubled production has finally seen the light of day and isn't as unwatchable as it was purported to be is probably a minor miracle.

Chaos Walking isn't great, but it's good enough thanks to its premise and its cast. It falters as it approaches the finish line, but it's not as bad as many would have you believe.

Raya & The Last Dragon

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria, and ABC Radio Central Victoria on March 15, 2021.

(PG) ★★★★½

Director: Don Hall & Carlos López Estrada.

Cast: (voices of) Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Izaac Wang, Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae Kim, Benedict Wong, Sandra Oh, Thalia Tran, Lucille Soong, Alan Tudyk.

Lovely day to take a weapon or a hat for a walk.

Disney princesses ain't what they used to be, which is a good thing.

In the past decade or so we've had the rebooted Rapunzel, Wreck It Ralph's Vanellope (she's totally a princess... of the track!), Frozen's Elsa and Anna, and islander warrior Moana - all strong yet complex characters that aren't merely waiting to be rescued by a prince. These ladies are more likely to be doing the rescuing.

Add to that list Raya - a fierce fighter, racked with guilt, who won't rest until she has restored her kingdom to its former glory. And there's nary a prince in sight.

Raya's quest is a pretty significant one - she needs to rid the land of the ghostly Druun, a wave of evil spirits which have turned the majority of her land's population to stone. To break their curse, she needs all the pieces of a mystical artefact called the dragon stone. Unfortunately the leaders of the neighbouring countries aren't keen to give up their pieces of the stone because they help keep the Druun at bay.

There is a formulaic "hunt the McGuffin" element to Raya & The Last Dragon that makes the film feel a tad predictable, especially when held up against the more adventurous film-making of studio buddies Pixar, but this is the only downside to this otherwise wondrous adventure. 

The story assemblies a fascinating array of characters along its journey - Raya and her pet Tuk Tuk (a Disneyfied pangolin), erratic dragon Sisu, 10-year-old entrepreneur Boun, con artist infant Noi, and the mighty warrior Tong. All are broken by grief and are seeking in Raya's attempts to re-assemble the dragon stone a way to re-assemble themselves, and indeed their whole nation. It's a Wizard Of Oz-style trip to make oneself whole again, but instead of flying monkeys, there is an army of warriors led by the equally fierce "Disney Princess" Namaari - a character just as fractured and interesting as the "good guys" of the tale.

Each of these players is beautifully animated, cleverly written and perfectly voiced by an all-star cast of Asian heritage. Tran and Awkwafina are spot-on in the leads with the latter stealing the show, Chan adds great humanity to Raya's nemesis Namaari, while Wong is an excellent mix of tough, funny and fragile as the massive mighty Tong.

With its impressive fight sequences and action-packed diversions, plus a healthy dose of comedy, Raya & The Last Dragon is great family fun, filled with enough heart and soul to overcome its more familiar plot moments.

The Little Things

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on March 5, 2021.

(M) ★★★

Director: John Lee Hancock.

Cast: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto, Chris Bauer, Michael Hyatt, Terry Kinney, Natalie Morales, Sofia Vassilieva.

The police needed to work on their social distancing.

David Fincher looms large over the serial killer thriller. With Seven, Zodiac and TV series Mindhunter, he's got the subgenre covered, meaning all new entries into the field are judged - for better or worse - against these amazing works.

The Little Things shares some elements with those Fincher films, including a character-driven focus, a moody atmosphere, and a strict procedural approach. But it lacks key components, namely tension, a growing sense of dread, and a feeling of urgency. While it cleverly subverts convention in places, it does so at the expense of the film's vibe, which waivers and eventually wanes, leaving behind an atmospheric thriller with few thrills. Fortunately there is a killer cast to save the whole thing from being a complete waste of time.

Washington stars as Deke, a homicide detective-turned-beat cop drawn into a murder investigation that bears an uncanny resemblance to an unsolved case from his past. Along with aspiring detective Jim Baxter (Malek), he zeroes in on resident weirdo Albert Sparma (Leto), convinced that he's the culprit. But is he? 

The characters are both the reason to watch this and the reason it doesn't totally work. Deke and Baxter are fascinating, but the film is more a portrait of men being pushed over the edge in their effort to do the right thing, rather than a tense thriller about a killer. The Little Things is asking "how close to the edge they will go?" and "what happens if they go over it?". As for Sparma, well, he's a strange cat, and that's displayed in a wonderfully creepy "is he/isn't he" way, but the thrills give way to some slower paced and monotonous as the character studies take over.

Thankfully the three key performances are delivered by three amazing actors, who all disappear into their roles beautifully. Leto is especially impressive, making Sparma believably weird - unforgettably so. The Little Things is at least worth watching for Leto, Malek and Washington.

But the story is so entranced by its characters and their internal struggles that it skips past the external ones. The stakes feel too low, and the much-needed escalation is lost in the slow haunting atmosphere. When the film finally gets to its series of late twists, they're met with an "oh - ok" as opposed to a feeling of genuine shock, surprise or horror. 

The Little Things is a brooding and interesting film, but it never clicks into a higher gear, leaving its performers carrying the load of a story that unravels gently, rather than with the kind of jolts we need or expect from such a movie.

In trying to subvert the genre and focus on the little things, The Little Things forgets the big things.

High Ground

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on March 5, 2021 and on ABC Central Victoria on March 1, 2021.

(MA15+) ★★★

Director: Stephen Maxwell Johnson.

Cast: Jacob Junior Nayinggul, Simon Baker, Callan Mulvey, Jack Thompson, Caren Pistorius, Ryan Corr, Aaron Pedersen, Sean Mununggurr, Witiyana Marika, Esmerelda Marimowa, Maximillian Johnson.

Xmas family photos were always so awkward.

There are moments when this well-intentioned Northern Territory drama soars like the hawk that gives its lead character his name. With its beautiful setting and ugly time period, High Ground often offers a difficult but riveting insight into the running battles and cultural clashes of the indigenous Arnhem Land people and the white colonials.

But too regularly the film struggles like a swimmer who ignored the "danger - crocodiles" sign and is now lunch - it's doomed by its own mistakes. It's a shame because this outback adventure has so much going for it.

The story focuses on Gutjuk (which means hawk) and Travis, played by Nayinggul and Baker respectively. Gutjuk is one of the few indigenous survivors of a massacre at the hand of white soldiers and settlers. Travis, who was with the murderers but didn't kill any indigenous people, takes the young Gutjuk to a nearby mission to be cared for and raised as an "assimilated aborigine".

But another survivor Baywara (Mununggurr), has re-emerged seeking revenge 12 years later and Travis' former superiors (led by Jack Thompson) think Travis and Gutjuk are just the men to bring Baywara in.

The biggest flaw here is the film's inability to get its motivations in order. Travis and Gutjuk have no real imperative to go on this quest, and are obviously the last people the authorities should be sending. This is just one spoiler-free example of the inexplicable motivations of those involved, with Travis' superiors - Moran (the iconic Jack Thompson) and his offsider Eddy (Mulvey) regularly doing things that are frustratingly confusing.

Similarly, the relationships between certain characters are either pointlessly obtuse or poorly constructed. Travis, a fine character well played by Baker, has an important and fascinating connection with Gutjuk, but easily corrected misunderstandings are never rectified. The relationship between Travis and Eddy is also laboured, while it feels like editing left out the important bits of whatever connection supposedly existed between Travis and the laughably underwritten mission matron Claire (Pistorius, whose character apparently doesn't age a single day in 12 years).

These key factors put a real dampener on the high points of High Ground. Newcomer Nayinggul is excellent and the film really shines in its second half when he is more dominant. Baker is a grounding influence when the film feels like it's getting lost in its mistakes, Thompson adds gravitas, Pedersen is awesome if under-used, and Mununggurr, Marika, and Marimowa are all excellent, particularly the latter as a powerful warrior woman who probably deserves her own film.

The film's efforts to display indigenous culture and use language are to be commended. While the many shootouts are visceral and well done, just as riveting is a mid-point scene where an indigenous clan sits down for a meeting with Thompson's police chief. It's a powerful demonstration of the cultural differences at play, told with a grace and humour and that are the film's best assets.

Johnson's attempts at a documentary-style works on occasion, capturing the danger and beauty of the landscape and the various forces within it. Elsewhere, the incessant camera wobbles are distracting and add little, and the film regularly dips into travelogue territory.

High Ground often soars like a wedge-tailed eagle, but too often it fails to fly, stifled by attempts to wedge characters into places they shouldn't be. Still worth a look, but not the classic it could have been.