Displaying items by tag: Adria Arjona

BLINK TWICE

US, 2024, 102 minutes, Colour.

Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Alia Shawkat, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adriana Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Liz Caribel, Levon Hawke, Geena Davis, Kyle MacLachlan.

Directed by Zoe Kravitz.

We, the audience, are invited, whether we like it or not, to take a trip to a Fantasy Island, a horror Fantasy Island.

This is a first film cowritten and directed by actress, Zoe Kravitz. She has invested a great deal of imagination and ingenuity to creating it. It is very much a film of the #MeToo consciousness of the last 20 years or so. And, it brings to mind the criminal behaviour of predator, Jeffrey Epstein, and judgements on him and his behaviour.

But, it doesn’t quite start that way. We are introduced to function cocktail waitress, Frida (Naomi Mackie) rapt in photos on her phone, idolising the guest of honour, Slater King (Channing Tatum in what eventually becomes a demanding role). The function is in honour of Slater King, his regrets for his behaviour in his business career, now a champion of philanthropy.

With his charm, Frida and her roommate, Jess, find themselves, as the audience does, on a plane to Slater’s island. For the next half hour, the guests, half a dozen young women, with some men friends on the island, have what they call a good time, no, “great time”, eating, drinking, gourmet food and alcohol, lazing by the pool, for days on end, losing a sense of time… (Audiences who would envy such a great time,

they will enjoy this hedonistic holiday; those for whom there is more in life than idling it away, it seems a very long time before anything really happens.)

Obviously, there is a danger of spoilers when the action gets going. Perhaps best to say that a key issue is the role of memory. Is it important to go back into the past to remember, to help with explanations of events in life? Or is it better to let the memories go and to move into the future? And so, with this shift in the drama, some of the guests remembering, disturbed by memories, decide to go into action to save themselves and others…

Which means then that the great time turns into something of a messy time and mayhem.

Blink Twice has quite a strong supporting cast including Alia  Shawket and Adria Arjona as two of the young women, Christian Slater and Haley Joel Osment as two of the guests, Kyle MacLachlan as a psychiatrist, Geena Davis as something of the housekeeper of the island.

As might be expected, there is a challenging ending – and the audience having to go away to reflect on the #MeToo implications of what they have just seen.

1. A film from the Me-Too# era? Women and men? Misogyny and exploitation? The island and audience memories of Jeffrey Epstein and his crimes?
2. The film as reality and fantasy? Fantasy Island?
3. The title, the reference to gaze, to photography?
4. The introduction to Frida, the phone, the photos, swiping through, the photos of Slater King, the infatuation? Her friendship with Jess, roommates, shared experiences? The cocktail waitresses? At the annual event, memories of the previous year, the advice of their supervisor, to smile and mingle? Audience identification with the two young women? Younger audiences and identification? Older audiences observing?
5. The story of Slater King, played by Channing Tatum, his reputation, his companies, change of heart, his repeated apologies, the celebration, the host, the guests, the speeches, food and drink, the dancing?
6. Slater, the attraction to Frida, with her, her response, awkwardness, charm, the dancing, with Jess, the invitation to the island? Their leaving everything, the flight to the island?
7. The island, a fantasy Island, the plane, the beauty of the island, the isolation, the main buildings, the grounds, the terrain, giving up the phones? Slater as host, his continued attention to Frida?
8. The range of characters on the island, the young women, seeming friends, but not having met before, the response to Slater, their hopes? The men, Vic, older, his camera? Tom, short, baby-faced, indulgent? Cody, vain, pride in his cooking and announcements? Lucas, younger, thinner, hanger-on?
9. The first 40 minutes, sensual, the accommodation, the clothes, everything available, the food and meals, the lighting, the drink, the drugs, the pool? “A good time”, “a great time”, hedonism, self-indulgence, the effect on the guests, Slater as host?
10. The change in tone, the issue of Jess, her participation in the great time, but wanting her phone, wanting out, her cigarette lighter with her name, the disappearance, nobody remembering?
11. The theme of memory, Slater and Frida and the discussions about memory, not going back into the past, erasing memories, living in the present to the future? The discussions with the therapist, at the party, his visit to the island, collusion with Slater?
12. The mysterious local inhabitants, the old woman, Frida encountering her, not understanding her, the snake, the venom, the drinks? The local workmen? Those who served at the dinner?
13. Frida, uncomfortable, memories of Jess, the friendship with Sarah, Sarah and her memories of being on television, Survivor, their working together, understanding the drinks, the issue of memory, the role of Slater, the other men? Frida and her searching Slater’s room, the photos? Under suspicion?
14. The role of the other girls, caught up in the hedonism? The contrast with Frida and Sara, then manoeuvres, building to the set up, the mood to violence, the knives?
15. The role of Stacy, older, housekeeper, her ditzy manner, dropping things, the issue of the armchair and its place, sometimes sinister presence, with the young women, her death?
16. The uprising, the confrontation of the men, the stabbing of Cody, Tom in the pool, the attack on Vic, Lucas and his death?
17. The role of the therapist, the danger, working with Slater?
18. The unmasking of Slater, exploitation, his charm, his real character?
19. The irony of the ending, the annual show, Frida in charge, control, Slater and his subservient presence? The future?
20. A contemporary drama/horror/parable about men and women in the 21^st-century?

HIT MAN

US, 2023, 115 minutes, Colour.

Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, Sanjay Rao, Molly Bernard, Evan Holtzman.

Directed by Richard Linklater.

With a direct title like Hit Man, we know what to expect. And, the expected happens, but, of course, with some differences.

This is a film by prolific filmmaker for more than 30 years, Richard Linklater, based in Austin, Texas usually, though this time in New Orleans. Linklater was able to explore relationships with his Before Trilogy, trace the development of a child to adolescence over 12 years in Childhood, and is always able to blend comedy with seriousness.

This time, in collaboration with his star, Glen Powell (emerging into prominence with Top Gun Maverick, Anything But You, Twisters), he has gone for offbeat comedy.

Powell is playing a character based on a real-life person (though Linklater emphasises that they have added the murders which didn’t happen in real life!). Gary teaches at the University, an academic who enjoys his work. However, he is also employed by the local police with their work in profiling as well as entrapment of a range of citizens who are searching to employ a hitman. He is open to change his persona, quite inventively, and an enjoyable collage of characters, men and women, old and young, rich and poor, make rendezvous meetings to hire him. Then the collage of them all being arrested, astounded, in prison.

But, this kind of story needs a femme fatale. She arrives in the form of Andrea Arjona, wanting to get rid of her obnoxious husband. Gary is in the character of Ron, tough, reliable hitman, but, he falls for her. Fans of crime writers may be on the alert, especially for film buffs, and though the work of James M.Cain and Raymond Chandler. Chandler adapted Cain’s novel, Double Indemnity, 1944, an archetypal story of the victim of the femme fatale.

This is all interestingly and entertainingly played out, scenes with the aggressive and jealous husband, a colleague of Gary who is not above some blackmail, some very pleasant police officers with integrity, and, then the death of the husband. Whodunnit?

Because of the complications when the wife he is the news of her husband’s death, when Gary has to unmask his hitman facade, will it be a happy ending?

That doesn’t happen in this kind of thing – but, spoiler alert, some unanticipated, surprising happy ever after!

1. The title? Expectations?
2. The New Orleans setting? Homes, police precincts, college? Clubs, the streets? The musical score?
3. The screenplay based on actual characters and events – but the screenplay adding the killings? Stability of the plot, the professor, schools in undercover work, consequences?
4. Gary, in class, the students, themes and studies? Is private life? His connection with the police? The set-ups, his skill in reading characters, the arrests?
5. The squad, setting up criminals, the variety of settings, the variety of characters, the collage of interviews, Gary and the various characters, the discussions, the entrapment? The consequences?
6. The squad, there were, confidence in Gary? Jasper, blowing his cover? Calling in Gary, setting up the character of Ron? Diffidence, his success, the performances, the affirmation? Jasper and his surliness?
7. The situation with Madison, his character, Ron, the meeting, listening to her, falling for her, her story? Giving her advice? The relationship? His cover? Do with her husband, the issue of divorce, his manic aggression, hatred for Madison?
8. The irony of his contacting Gary for a killer against Madison? The revelation? Jasper and his encounter, something of the situation, action, blackmail?
9. Madison falling in love with Ron, reaction to his being Gary? The death of her husband, Gary and his suspicions? The squad, the pressure on Gary to trap Madison? His going to the house, his double game, indicating answers for her, her getting away?
10. The epilogue, their being together, getting away with murder?
11. The blend of the serious and comic?