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PULLING ON THREADS – AN INTERVIEW WITH NINA IJÄS
I met with Nina Ijäs, the co-writer and editor of HOPE FROZEN, at DocPoint 2020 to talk about her career, how to approach death as a topic, and the differences between cutting fiction and documentaries. This interview is edited and condensed for length and clarity. Editor Nina Ijäs How did you get started in editing? I worked as journalist in radio and television, and I quit my job to pursue something that I could do with more thought. I wanted to go deeper into things than what is possible in journalism today. It was almost by chance, because I had done drama, and I realized it was a very pure form of storytelling. When I actually I started editing, it was so obvious that this was something
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The Last of Us (HBO)
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, where a fungal plague has wiped out most of humanity, The Last of Us is one of the most beloved stories in modern gaming. A mix of survival horror and road trip, it's an exploration of familial bonds, generational trauma, survivor's guilt, and forgiveness. None of these are particularly unique topics, not even for gaming, but in the hands of directors Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann, The Last of Us tapped into something unique for an audience hungry for a change. In the game, players controlled Joel, a broken and violent man sent to transport human cargo, Ellie, across the country. Over time, after much misery and horror, the two bond over their sh
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Glass Onion
I'm a big fan of Rian Johnson. You don't have to be. Glass Onion, like Knives Out before it, is a crowd-pleaser in a way that overcomes any and all barriers. Don't like murder mysteries? No worries, Glass Onion is one of the funniest films of the year. Not a fan of deconstructive meta-commentary? Not a problem, it's also one of the cleverest thrillers since its predecessor. Whatever hurdle you throw at Johnson's impeccable script or pitch-perfect cast, they clear it effortlessly. Whether you're coming in as a fan or with fresh eyes, Glass Onion is like an accommodating party host. The most important thing is that you're having a good time. Set an unknown ti
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Glass Onion Interviews: Daniel Craig & Rian Johnson
In the final part of my interviews for Glass Onion, I spoke with Daniel Craig and Rian Johnson about crafting mysteries, Southern accents, and grounding the madness with the real world. Look out for my review of Glass Onion soon and check out the film on Netflix Nordic starting December 23rd. Thank you both for the film, this was a lot of fun. RJ: Thank you! We had a good time making it. DC: It doesn’t always translate, having fun on set, but when you’ve got a great script, it seems to work out. Daniel, did you have or want more input on things this time around in the film? DC: No more than the first one. The great and liberating thing about these films is that Rian writes and directs, Ram B
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Glass Onion Interviews: Janelle Monae & Edward Norton
Janelle Monae and Edward Norton visited the London Film Festival to promote Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, the new film from Rian Johnson, premiering on Netflix on December 23rd. I got a chance to speak with them briefly about making the film as PR reps flocked around us, dutifully monitoring that no spoilers slipped through the cracks a few months before the premiere. This interview is edited and condensed for clarity. Janelle, your character in the film has multiple outfits that serve almost as suits of armor for her. How was it dressing up for the movie? Did it help with finding the character? Monae: It was a lot of fun. She [my character] is a tech entrepreneur who clearly is very sh
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Avatar: The Way of Water
Let's start with the good news. The Way of Water looks fantastic. It's a technical marvel, showcasing what 13 years, endless amounts of money, and no care about the human cost of overtime crunch can accomplish. It's a reminder that good 3D can look amazing and immersive. Well, mostly. But we'll get to that later. Everything else about James Cameron's long-awaited return to Pandora is disappointing. At its core, The Way of Water is a vanity project in search of an editor. Anyone to just say no. It's both bloated and empty all at once. The runtime is easily an hour too long and in serious need of a script rewrite or three. The plot, such as it is, straddles betwee
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Spiral
(I originally reviewed Spiral for Night Visions Maximum Halloween 3022. Portions of that review carry over here.) There is an anxious desperation that permeates Kurtis David Harder’s haunting thriller, but not because of demons or anything supernatural. Instead, it taps into something more primal and sinister; white, suburban communities. The kind of places where minds and hearts are more closed-off than the houses. Set in an undefined time and place, Spiral follows a same-sex couple who move to a small town somewhere out in the boondocks in search of a more quiet life. Where they are or where they’re coming from isn’t mentioned. The horrific part of it all is that it wouldn’t make a differe
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Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
It's always a gamble, naming something after yourself. The act implies ownership. Something so total, it takes its place as the definitive telling of something in popular culture. As the name suggests, this is Guillermo Del Toro's film, and it is the definitive take on Pinocchio. Set in Fascist Italy, as Mussolini's thugs hold the country under their boot. A cheerful artisan, Geppetto, lives far away from the war with his son, happy to ignore the horror casually spreading towards their home. One night, a rogue air raid strikes, killing Geppetto's child. Inconsolable, he takes to drink, and seasons pass. Then, fueled by rage, desperation, and grief, Geppetto carves a woode
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LFF 2022: Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
It's always a gamble, naming something after yourself. The act implies ownership. Something so total, it takes its place as the definitive telling of something in popular culture. As the name suggests, this is Guillermo Del Toro's film, and it is the definitive take on Pinocchio. Set in Fascist Italy, as Mussolini's thugs hold the country under their boot. A cheerful artisan, Geppetto, lives far away from the war with his son, happy to ignore the horror casually spreading towards their home. One night, a rogue air raid strikes, killing Geppetto's child. Inconsolable, he takes to drink, and seasons pass. Then, fueled by rage, desperation, and grief, Geppetto carves a woode
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Willow (2022)
Willow is a sequel to Willow, but it rarely feels like it needs to be one. At its best, Willow is a high-fantasy family show that works perfectly well as its own thing. The times it sags are when it feels beholden to a legacy few remember. There's a sense that, like its protagonists, the series places more emphasis on its own assumed expectations, rather than what others really want from it. The original, directed by Ron Howard, was a perfectly serviceable and fun adventure film that didn't need an expanded universe. It wasn't hugely original, but it didn't need to be, either. Instead, it was charming and easily likable, carried by winning performances from Warwick Davis
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Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection (PC)
I love the Uncharted series. Warts and all. I fully admit the gameplay isn’t innovative, and, often, the ludonarrative dissonance is overwhelming. Even Naughty Dog admits as much. But none of that matters. I’ve completed the series at least a dozen times over the years and, coming into this latest remaster, felt no hesitation in doing it all over again. Uncharted is like Indiana Jones to me. It’s my go-to comfort game when I want to experience a rush of overwhelming emotion. The Legacy of Thieves Collection brings together the two final games in the series, A Thief’s End and The Lost Legacy. The former, on a narrative level, is the best in the series. The latter is probably the most fun to p
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Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection
I love the Uncharted series. Warts and all. I fully admit the gameplay isn’t innovative, and, often, the ludonarrative dissonance is overwhelming. Even Naughty Dog admits as much. But none of that matters. I’ve completed the series at least a dozen times over the years and, coming into this latest remaster, felt no hesitation in doing it all over again. Uncharted is like Indiana Jones to me. It’s my go-to comfort game when I want to experience a rush of overwhelming emotion. The Legacy of Thieves Collection brings together the two final games in the series, A Thief’s End and The Lost Legacy. The former, on a narrative level, is the best in the series. The latter is probably the most fun to p
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Uncharted Legacy of Thieves
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God of War Ragnarök
Never underestimate the importance of a good story. I kept returning to that during my 40-plus hours with God of War Ragnarök. Every time something tedious annoyed me, or the times I felt the pacing faltered. I remembered how much I loved this story. Because Ragnarök is also a victim of its success. It’s easily twice the size of its predecessor; a vast, sprawling epic with a hundred hours of material if you’re inclined to put in the effort. But that scope comes at a cost. Dated genre conventions, like mandatory climbing sections, there for exposition dumps, are as bad now as they were five years ago. Boss battles, doubled from the 2018 reboot, are a chore. Combat is more elaborate, as are th
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Sonic Frontiers (PS5)
I wasn't a SEGA kid. This was back in the time of the console wars, when Nintendo and SEGA went to war over global audiences. Each one revving up vitriol at the other in increasingly unhinged ads and counter-ads. For a kid growing up in recession-era Finland, it only meant you had to carefully choose which console – if any – you would go for. So, at the time, the blue hedgehog lost out to the red plumber, and that was that. Thirty years later, Sonic Frontiers attempts a kind of reinvention of the established format. It lovingly lifts elements from Breath of the Wild and other sombre narratives of worlds gone by, which, in turn, mix with the manic energy of Sonic that audienc
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Interview: Andy Mitton & Richard W. King
I spoke with director Andy Mitton and producer Richard W. King at the Night Visions Film Festival about their latest film, The Harbinger. Our spoiler-free talk covers the anxiety of lockdown, creating a mythology that resonates on a global level, and what terrified us in our past. I had a great time with the duo, and I think their eloquence is reflected in the film, which I reviewed here. This interview is edited and condensed for clarity. Both this and The Witch in the Window feel like folk horror and urban legend, and they have very distinct mythology behind them. Are they based on something or are they just something you came up with? Andy Mitton: In both cases I made up everything, all t
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Night Visions 3022: The Harbinger
Good horror doesn’t just talk about what we fear, it helps us cope with our collective trauma. The horror films of the past that linger in the public consciousness are all about societal anxieties. Jaws is about a shark, but it’s also about the distrust of corrupt officials whose shortsightedness costs lives. Halloween gave voice to the growing fear of home invaders, popularized by the media frenzy around the Manson Family and Jeffrey Dahmer. The monsters are extraordinary, but the terror lives right next door. In Andy Mitton’s The Harbinger, fear wears a mask, or, more accurately, it might be the mask itself. Shot in the midst of the global pandemic, it’s an eloquent and intensely affecting
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Interview: Andy Mitton & Richard W. King
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The Harbinger
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Night Visions Maximum Halloween 3022
I checked out a bunch of films for the upcoming Night Visions Maximum Halloween festival. Check out their reviews below, and if you’re interested, click on their headings to check out tickets and more info on the official Night Visions website. Maximum Halloween kicks off tomorrow, November 16th, and continues until Sunday, November 20th. Spiral There is an anxious desperation that permeates Kurtis David Harder’s haunting thriller. But it’s not because of demons or anything supernatural. Instead, Harder and his writers, Colin Minihan and John Poliquin, tap into something more primal and sinister. That of the closed community. The kind of place where minds and hearts have tougher and taller g