Displaying items by tag: Dylan O'Brian

SATURDAY NIGHT

US, 2024, 109 minutes, Colour.

Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Senott, Corey Michael Smith, Ella Hunt, Dylan O'Brien, Emily Fairn, Matt Wood, Lamorne Morris, Kim Matula, Finn Wolfhard, Nicholas Braun, Cooper Hoffman, J.K.Simmons, Nicholas Podany, Robert Wuhl, Jon Batiste, Willem Dafoe, Paul Rust, Tracy Letts, Matthew Rhys.

This history/comedy/memoir was released at the 49^th anniversary of the opening show of what has become an American tradition, Saturday Night Live. While the program is screened in other countries, it is a particularly American television experience, comic experience, social commentary and criticism experience. While it touches the American funny bone, the response of audiences outside the United States might be something of hit and miss.

Which might be also the case with this film, American audiences relishing the re-creation of that first night, the tensions in the last hour and a half before going on air live. And there are many famous names appearing in this film, many of whom through Saturday Night Live became media celebrities – producer Lorne Michaels, comedians Chevy Chase, Jon Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Lorraine Newman, Billy Crystal, George Carlin… And Nicholas Braun as both Andy Kaufmann and Jim Henson.

In many ways, this is a frantic and frenetic film because that is the situation in which Lorne Michaels found himself, the decision to do something new in the mid-1970s, live performances, sketches, satiric songs, social commentary. While NBC allowed it, there was hostility from some of the bosses, dramatised here by the talent director, David Tabet (another sinister performance from Willem Dafoe), and the rivalry with the Johnny Carson show, also dramatised here.

This film purports to be a dramatisation of what actually happened on that night, October 11, 1975. While a lot of this may have happened, putting it all together in the one film means exhaustion for the protagonists, exhaustion for the audience.

So, very much behind the scenes, the young Lorne Michaels and his initiatives, sometimes naive, sometimes shrewd, often the target, trying to get the temperamental Jon Belushi to sign a contract, encouraging his writers, new talent, placating Jim Henson and his concern about the treatment of the Muppets, supported by his wife, Rose Schuster, and all kinds of practical disasters, lighting falling almost on top of the actors, authentic bricks knocked over and having to be reset again, his being squirted with fake blood…

This is very much the show must go on despite… Everything.

The ensemble cast is very effective. Gabriel LaBellel is Lorne Michaels (he had appeared as the young Spielberg in The Fablemans). The impersonators of the famous talent are very good, Michael Wood as Jon Belushi, most credible. Corey Michael Smith as a rather arrogant but quickwitted Chevy Chase. And, surprisingly after seeing him in the Maze Runners and other action films, Dylan O’Brien enjoying himself impersonating Dan Aykroyd. One of the best surprises is the arrival of Milton Berle, arrogant, full of disdain for the younger generation, visiting the set, performing a musical number – and the fact that the performance is by J.K.Simmons rather unlike anything else he has done and making quite an impact.

There are a number of character actors in the supporting roles as well as a number of new faces. It is all put together with speed, momentum, the visuals of the time ticking down, a final crisis as to whether they were permitted to go ahead, the final permission – and, as the cliche says, the rest is history.

CADDO LAKE

US, 2024, 99 minutes, Colour.

Dylan O'Brien, Eliza Scanlen, Carolina Falk, Lauren Ambrose, Diana Hopper, Eric Lang.

Directed by Logan George, Celine Held.

Audiences who like something mysterious, Caddo Lake can be recommended. However, it is a difficult film to review, too many dangers for spoilers!

The first part of the film seems ordinary enough, filmed at Lake Caddo on the border between Texas and Louisiana, a vast lake, somewhat resembling the Everglades, the winding water, the overhanging trees and branches, swamp areas, suggestions of crocodiles, and the local town of Karnak. The atmosphere is authentic.

The first part of the film, it seems very ordinary in terms of human drama. There are two strands of the story – and audiences wondering when they will coincide. There is teenager Ellie, her father disappeared, her mother marrying again, a stepsister, the large family with its religious beliefs, her resentment at gatherings, but a good relationship with the stepsister, Anna. But, vocal clashes with her mother and stepfather.

The other strand focuses on the young man, Paris, played by Dylan O’Brien, initially seen drowning, but surviving, his mother having a seizure and dying underwater. He works in engineering developments around the lake, is obsessed with trying to understand his mother’s illness and seizures, whether the issue is genetic, meetings with his father, accosting a doctor in the parking lot, having all the charts concerning his mother.

The film drama changes, the tone changes when the stepsister, Anna disappears. One can say that the rest of the film is taken up with the people of Karnak searching for Anna, Elly becoming more desperate. And, Paris adventures more into the interiors of the lake, discovering its mysteries, sometimes overwhelmed.

Which is the time for a review to end, and googling indicates that practically all reviewers respect the issue of not giving spoilers. Because, while the first part seems ordinary, the change of tone in the middle of the film means that audiences are watching a film and its development that they might never have anticipated.

1. The title, the focus on the lake, the visuals of the lake, vast, warranty, in flood, dryer, the mud, the foliage in the shade, engineering, bridge, the dam? Atmosphere?
2. Filming at the actual lake and in the town of Karnak? The city the visuals of the town, shops, supermarket, streets, the home, engineering sites, atmosphere? The musical score?
3. The mystery of the plot? Not revealing spoilers? The complexities?
4. The first part of the film, ordinary, introduction to Ali and her life, introduction to Paris and his concern about his mother? Having the lake in common? Ordinary human dramas? The disappearance of Anna? The change in the tone of the film, the structure, the interconnections of the times, the experiences? Mystery? Satisfying explanations – or not?
5. Ellie’s story, her mother, the disappearance of her father, and willing to be absorbed into the new family, antagonism with Daniel, the outbursts against her mother, her devotion to Anna, sharing with her, the shopping, the driving of the boat? Scenes at home? And is disappearance and the effect on her? Her own life, age, assertive, staying with Claire? The phone call and the disappearance? Change, her searching, the reactions of the town and the people, her becoming more desperate? The disappearances of the boats?
6. Paris and his story, the opening, underwater, his mother, the seizure, her death, his blaming himself? Years passing, his having all his mother’s records, checking them out, accosting the doctor in the parking lot, the discussions with his father? His mother’s illness, explanations, genetic or not, his trembling hand? The behaviour of his father, meetings, discussions? His work, the engineering, the fellow workers? The eerie atmosphere of the woods and the lake? His venturing out?
7. The supporting characters, Paris and the return of his girlfriend, the relationship, the discussions, his distancing her?
8. The supporting characters, Ellie, the family gathering, the tensions, the arguments? The sheriff, the townspeople searching for an?
9. The mystery of the lake, light and darkness, tortures and daylight, passing through certain areas, the effect on the ear, the resounding echoes, the effect, time change? Ellie and the rope to anchor her trip, the boat, the search, the rope cut?
10. Paris, the walls, the search, finding and wounded, carrying her, the past, the workers, suspicions, taking her away?
11. Anna, Julie finding her, taking her home?
12. Paris and the past, the future, his injuries, in the hospital, observing, the escape, stealing the car, the pursuit, diving into the River? The final encounter with his father?
13. Ellie, the past, the search, the encounter with Celeste, the news about Paris? At the computer, the googling, the information, with her mother, the truth about Paris?
14. The complexities of time, different dimensions, movement, influence of the past, the complexity of the relationships?