RATS!

 

Rats! fits in perfectly with movies like Repo Man, Tapeheads or even Dude Where’s My Car? (judge all you want but that movie is funny). The basic plots are all similar on a surface level – an aimless stoner gets caught up in a plot involving guns, murder, nukes and/or bombs, aliens, the FBI or a close combination of everything in the case of Rats! After getting busted for tagging, a young punk/graffiti writer (“Raphael”) is used as a pawn by a crooked police officer to go undercover to try and bust his cousin who may be in possession of nukes. These nukes are just the tip of the iceberg as we’re exposed to one absurd semi-connected event after another.

On the most surface of levels, Rats! is the type of movie to be compared to the work of someone like Harmony Korine because of all the vulgarity, randomness, occult imagery and connections to death metal. But, the more you watch Rats! the more you’ll find it pulls from recognizable sources like Spielberg, DePalma, Tarantino and Lynch (at this point in time, what movie doesn’t).

Crrie / Jaws / Rats!

Reservoir Dogs / Rats!

Blue Velvet / Rats!

Un Chien Andalou / Blue Velvet / Rats!

I doubt Wild Style played a part in the development of this movie, but the graffiti element made me think Zoro and his tagging...

Wild Style / Rats!

If you’re looking for a contemporary comparison, this falls in line with the films of Joel Potrykuys (we cover Potrykus’ work a lot on this blog). The opening scene of Rats! Is very similar in tone to the opening scene of Potrykus’ Ape (both directors are also very reference-heavy so the connection makes even more sense). I doubt Rats! director Carl Fry is familiar with Potrykus but it’s interesting to me how both of their movies start with an aimless small town youth tagging up their town as a way to show rebellion.

 

Ape / Rats!

Rats! plays out like something made by the little brother of an old gen-xer. Someone who never actually saw a full episode of Pete & Pete or you can’t do that on television, but instead they heard about it from their older sibling and watched a couple of clips on youtube for context (based on everything I’ve said so far, it should come as no surprise that this movie relies heavily on nostalgia). Rats! is also the perfect movie to share with someone who loves to complain about things being too “woke”. The type of movie that disproves the whole; “you could NEVER make a movie like THIS today” or “everyone is SO easily offended”. At times you’ll find yourself questioning if this movie is completely satirical, completely offensive in a rebellious immature teenager kind of way, or a combination of the two. I’m still not completely sure but I do know that this movie is genuine and has heart. I’ll need to watch it a few more times but after my first viewing I can say I enjoyed it very much. I wouldn’t blindly recommend this to most people because there is a lot of gratuitous vulgarity and senseless violence. But if you don’t mind that kind of stuff and are looking for a surreal, fun and sometimes uncomfortable 79 minutes – this might something you’d enjoy.

NICKEL BOYS

I was kind of forced to have a relationship with this movie long before I saw it. Without even asking if I’ve actually seen Nickel Boys, a lot of folks assumed that I not only saw it but loved it. For the last few months this was one of those movies where people that kind of sort of get my taste would say stuff like "Marcus this looks like one of your movies that you would like!" I guess because the movie has an “artsy” aesthetic and has Black people in that I, the “artsy” movie-loving Black guy, would automatically like it. To some degree I get it. Based off of the trailer and out of context clips, this movie definitely lies somewhere between post-Thin Red Line Terrance Malick and Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight (two things I am fond of).

 

Nickel Boys director Ramell Ross has a relationship with the films of Malick…

 

l noticed the power of this sort of like roving and mounting poetry in Tree of Life, probably my all-time favorite film - Ramell Ross, metrograph.com

Tree Of Life / Nickel Boys

Tree Of Life / Nickel Boys

Tree Of Life / Nickel Boys

 

And Barry Jenkins developed a deep relationship with the film…

 

Nickel Boys. 1,000 per cent. Point blank, period. I watched it twice in like three days. Love, love, loved that movie. RaMell Ross, he is a true visionary and a true artist. That film is extraordinary - Barry Jenkins, MyTalk1071.com

Moonlight / Nickel Boys

 

Normally, I can’t stand when adults are intentionally evasive just because. That’s toddler behavior. But in the case of Nickel Boys, I intentionally avoided it for a long time because of all the expectations put on me to like it.

This is one of those very specific things that Black film fans have to deal with sometimes. The assumption that you automatically like something prestigious strictly because it stars or is made by a Black person. Then there’s the added awkwardness when you don’t meet the expectations put on you and have the audacity to have criticisms of said prestigious Black films instead of mindless praise. You become the guy that doesn’t like anything and are labeled a killjoy even though you have a 15+ year old blog praising hundreds of movies over the years...

I think Queen & Slim is one of the worst movies ever made. It exploited Black pain, made Black men look either dumb and/or devious, and just had too many non-practical moments for something that tried to be practical. I couldn’t stand Nia Dacosta’s Candyman remake. It was made for pretentious people that are chronically online that get their opinions on race from folks like Jemele Hill or Tariq Nasheed. If Sorry White People never existed my life would not be impacted in any way. Like Queen & Slim and the Candyman remake, Sorry White People was also made for pretentious Black folks and White liberals that are chronically online. I enjoy Get Out very much but can’t stand the dialogue and think-pieces around it. It should have been allowed to stay the silly dark comedy that it was meant to be but folks started taking it super serious and turned it in to something it wasn’t meant to be. I thought Sterling K Brown was excellent in Waves but the movie itself played in to awful stereotypes about young Black men. I enjoyed Non-fiction overall but aspects of that movie really felt like it was trying too hard for white acceptance. Notice how within the first 15-20 minutes of that movie all the Black characters go out of their way to announce their very important professions in a way that felt like they were essentially telling the audience: “hey - Black people can be doctors, professors and lawyers!” I understand there will always be a sector of non-Black people that will always have low expectations of us. A movie isn’t going to change that so why even bother trying to prove something to people that already have their minds made up about us?

You may not agree with everything I just said but don’t you find those opinions at least interesting or potentially engaging? These kinds of thoughts and opinions are far better than just saying something is “powerful” or “moving”. That gets boring after a while. 

I also tend to have a sometimes cynical reaction to Black pain and Black trauma on film (not in real life but on film). Part of that could be attributed to my northeast upbringing. Generally speaking, I find that post-Gen X Black people that grew up in the northeast region of America approach issues concerning race & racism on film much more cynically than Black folks from the south or the Midwest. But that’s a whole other conversation…

Black Trauma has just become a genre. I acknowledge my northeast cynicism towards race in modern film but at a certain point, I just get completely turned off when headlines and/or tweets about real Black pain are turned in to marketable entities.

 

With all that being said - I guess Nickel Boys was fine? It’s a tragic story about abuse, trauma racism and just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I definitely think you all should watch it but maybe watch it while being conscious of everything I’m saying right now. I know I said a lot without saying much about the actual subject but I guess I don't have too much to say about the actual movie. There are certainly lots of isolated/out of context moments of Malick-esque beauty. But it definitely is part of a bigger problem that’s happening in film right now. 

If you’re familiar with this blog or my Twitter presence then you know I appreciate a good homage or cinematic reference. But it’s starting to get a little out of hand. 30+ years ago we had three or four reference-heavy Pulp Fiction-like movies and now we get like 40 of them a year. In the last year we got The Substance, Cuckoo (a very loose rework of The Brood), In A Violent Nature, Longlegs (Silence Of The Lambs), Rebel Ridge (First Blood & Billy Jack), Nosferatu (beside it being another remake, Eggers references Possession). 

A lot of filmmakers seem to be focused more on pulling from the past or shouting out their cinematic heroes and less invested in trying something new. I’m starting to wonder if new releases are nothing more than collages/ mixtapes.

A FEW WORDS ON JANET PLANET *UPDATED*

For those that don’t know - I’m not only from western Massachusetts but I’m a former classmate of Janet Planet director Annie Baker (not trying to name-drop. I just think it would be odd to not mention that). I don’t think my opinion on this movie holds more weight than anyone else who’s seen it, but I think I know the basic material more than the average person. Not the deeper coming of age story of an 11 year old girl and the close relationship with her quietly eccentric mother. But all the ancillary elements are very near & dear to my heart. It’s impossible for me to not feel nostalgic watching this. The first time I saw it I spent half the time pointing out to all the very real places I grew up in & around. Amherst is a very unique place. I know everyone with some kind of hometown pride always says that about wherever they’re from but people that aren’t even from Amherst that have spent time there have confirmed that it’s unlike anywhere else. It’s incredibly liberal (sometimes laughably liberal when compared to the rest of the world) and sometimes pretentious but well-meaning at the end of the day. I couldn’t imagine growing up anywhere else. Amherst is where I learned about weird movies and music which is a huge part of who I am today. I can confirm that this movie captures the vibe of early 90’s Western, Mass. The wooded areas, the architecture, the clothes, the aging hippies — all of it. 

It’s just nice to see specific landmarks that you grew up with in a movie directed by someone that’s actually from where the story takes place. If you’re from places like Toronto, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago or New York City - it’s fairly common to see familiar landmarks show up in movies. That’s not the case when you’re from Western Massachusetts. We’re usually an afterthought or incorrectly attached to the other side of the state. So much of our personality is based on telling non-new England folks that we aren’t from Boston or that we’re different from Boston people. …At least that’s how it was for me post-high school (to be clear - we are very different from the people on the eastern side of the state in that we’re less aggressive and aren’t as angry).

Mount Pollox Conservation Area, Amherst Massachusetts

The parking lot of the Hampshire Mall, Hadley Massachusetts

Tobacco barn in Hadley

Masonic Street Mural, Northampton Massachusetts 

A huge chunk of this movie's personality is the result of watching & appreciating a wide range of cinema and paying homage to it. I mean that in a good way. There’s lots of visual references in this. It wouldn’t be out of line to program Janet Planet on a double bill with something like Fanny and Alexander or Welcome To The Dollhouse (a film that co-stars Amherst alumni; Eric Mabius). Annie Baker subconsciously borrowed from movies in that lane. That’s actually what I liked most about her film. If you’re familiar with this blog then this shouldn't come as a surprise. That's all I seem to care about with movies these days. This is very much her own unique vision but she’s been very open about her cinematic inspirations. I caught some immediately without having to do any research. Others I learned about through reading interviews and listening to Q&As.
Some of the comparisons below might seem a little forced or vague, but I think I captured the ones that are most key/important:

Watching it gets you in touch with all the times you've felt horribly depressed and also overwhelmed by the beauty and color of everything around you - Janet Planet, Criterion

Documenteur / Janet Planet

I’ve seen this movie [Fanny and Alexander] more times than I can count. I think it’s the best movie about being a kid ever made. It’s a fairy tale and a nightmare and a totally believable portrayal of a Swedish family in Uppsala at the turn of the twentieth century, all at the same time. It has always reminded me of one of my favorite novels, Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks. It’s also a movie about the weird magic of theater . . . Both the opening sequence and the reading from Strindberg at the end kill me. And the way Bergman shoots inanimate objects . . . The statues and the toy angels and the clocks and the puppets and the lamps . . . They’re all watching Alexander, the whole movie - Annie Baker, Criterion

Fanny and Alexander / Janet IPlanet

Fanny and Alexander / Janet IPlanet

Fanny and Alexander / Janet Planet

I saw this when I was twenty-five or twenty-six and really confused about my work. I was so discouraged and had stopped writing, and this movie made me excited to start working again. Akerman was doing something with pace and composition and time that I'd always wanted to do but had been too chicken to acknowledge or go toward. Watching this made me realize that you should make the kind of art you want to see, which sounds kind of obvious but was a big revelation to me at the time - Annie Baker, criterion

Jeanne Dielman... / Janet Planet

Jeanne Dielman... / Janet Planet

growing up in Amherst, Mass., in the '80s and '90s, you see a lot of political puppet theater - Annie Baker, The New York Times

The Meadows Green / Janet Planet

The Meadows Green / Janet Planet

Dead Man Rises / Janet Planet

The filmmaker I would say my D.P. and my editor and I discussed the most was Maurice Pialat, especially his film "L'Enfance Nue." Another movie that is very important to me is [Victor] Erice's "Spirit of the Beehive." We also talked about [Abbas Kiarostami's films about children, and my sound designer Paul and I talked a lot about [Apichatpong] Weerasethakul, and went to see "Tropical Malady" together - Annie Baker, The New Yorker

The Spirit Of The Beehive / Janet Planet

The Spirit Of The Beehive / Janet Planet

Uncle Boonmee / Janet Planet

Uncle Boonmee / Janet Planet

Uncle Boonmee / Janet Planet

L'enfance Nue / Janet Planet

Ten / Janet Planet

Tropical Malady / Janet Planet

Uncle Boonmee / Janet Planet

THE CINEMA OF PHILIP RIDLEY TOLD THROUGH (MOVING) IMAGES & STILLS

After the last entry on Patrick Horvath & Dallas Hallam I figured we'd stay in the horror genre and focus on a horror(ish)-based filmmaker whose cinematic body of work, although small, does span over three decades...

This entry might seem a little random to some of you. As a filmmaker, Philip Ridley may not be on the same level as David Lynch, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke or Paul Verhoeven (or as active) but some of his films have left a lasting impression on me.

The Reflecting Skin is, without a doubt, one of my all-time favorite movies. As heavy-handed as some of the symbolism & imagery may be, it's still one of the strangest looks at everything from coming of age & mental illness to the (sometimes) boredom of being a lonely child (how many films mix horror, dark humor and psychological elements and actually make it work?)

Now...the rest of his movies haven't exactly measured up to The Reflecting Skin but that doesn't mean he hasn't done some interesting & unique things behind the camera post 1990. 

Besides writing the script for The Krays (a movie that has been re-adapted, re-imagined & redone many times over), he's put his own unique stamp on the horror genre by incorporating themes like depression (Heartless) & humor (The Universe Of Dermot Finn).

Yes, this is another filmmaker included in this series that isn't a personal favorite of mine but his body of work thus far is worthy of a spotlight.

FYI - I'm getting a little liberal with this one by including The Krays which Ridley wrote the script for but did not direct.

Enjoy...

"IT'S A STRANGE WORLD"

You can't discuss Philip Ridley without discussing the (sometimes) incredibly weird shit that happens in his movies. It's what makes his films unique. Random weird stuff happens in his movies. Period. That may be intriguing to some and off-putting to others but no matter what, you never know what to expect in the cinematic universe of Philip Ridley...

The Reflecting Skin

The Universe Of Dermot Finn

The Passion Of Darkly Noon

TWINS & DUAL IDENTITIES

Whether it's something obvious like the creepy twins in The Reflecting Skin or the very real Kray Twins (The Krays), the idea of doubles & doppelgangers clearly fascinates Philip Ridley. The nameless twins in The Reflecting Skin are essentially one person (they move & speak at the same time) and while the Krays fight with each other they're still inseparable (a typical trait of most twins).

Ridley also takes the idea of dual identities/personalities to another level in films like Heartless where our protagonist takes on a new life/identity.
*SPOILER* And it is heavily implied that our young protagonist in The Reflecting Skin is suffering from multiple personality disorder and is killing everyone in his small town. If you notice, he's always the only person around when someone is killed.

Heartless

The Krays

The Reflecting Skin

HEAVY-HANDED RELIGION

It's hard to tell if Philip Ridley is religious or not. One minute he's making on-the-nose, seemingly pro-biblical references. Watching his last film you'd have to believe that he thinks heaven & hell are real places (*SPOILER* in the story our protagonist makes a deal with the devil and by the end he joins his father in heaven)

But other times Philip Ridley is super critical of organized religion. In The Passion Of Darkly Noon he essentially paints evangelical Christians as cult members (but at the same time he plays in to the idea that things like Adam & Eve, the burning bush & Jesus are real).

The Passion Of Darkly Noon

Viggo Mortensen as "The Carpenter" in The Passion Of Darkly Noon

Ashley Judd as a seductress eating an apple in The Passion Of Darkly Noon (an obvious nod to Eve)

Baby Jesus in a manger in The Universe Of Dermot Finn

"The Devil" In Heartless

Crucifixion (blade through the hand) in The Krays

The Reflecting Skin

The Reflecting Skin

Open Hand prayer in Visiting Mr. Beak

VISUAL SIMILARITIES & (POSSIBLE) INFLUENCES ON PHILIP RIDLEY

Destiny / The Reflecting Skin

Twin Peaks / The Reflecting Skin

2001 / The Reflecting Skin

Eraserhead / The Universe Of Dermot Finn

Blue Velvet / The Reflecting Skin

Persona / The Passion Of Darkly Noon

The Brood / The Reflecting Skin

Faust / Heartless

The Artwork of Andrew Wyeth / The Reflecting Skin

The Shining / The Reflecting Skin

Night Of The Hunter / /The Reflecting Skin

Badlands / The Reflecting Skin

Scarifice / The Passion Of Darkly Noon

The Reflecting Skin / IT

PHILIP RIDLEY'S (POSSIBLE) INFLUENCE ON OTHERS

The Reflecting Skin / Ratcatcher

The Reflecting Skin / Mad Max Fury Road

The Reflecting Skin / Jeremy (Pearl Jam)

The Passion Of Darkly Noon / The Great Beauty

RECURRING IMAGERY: CATASTROPHIC FIRES

Fires happen in a lot of movies. I know. But fires in the films of Philip Ridley are associated with major turning points or significant changes in the story. After Seth's father kills himself in The Reflecting Skin (by setting himself on fire), the tone switches and Viggo Mortensen's "Cameron" immediately enters the story and becomes the man of the household. In Heartless, our main character goes through a metamorphosis by being set on fire only to come out on the other end as a newer/"better" version of himself. And The Passion Of Darkly Noon is entrenched in the "fire & brimstone" side of Christianity (the finale involves a house going up in flames)

The Passion Of Darkly Noon

The Reflecting Skin

Heartless

RECURRING IMAGERY: MIRRORS & REFLECTIONS

Heartless

The Krays

The Reflecting Skin

RECURRING IMAGERY: SIGNATURE CLOSE-UP SHOT

The Passion Of Darkly Noon

The Universe Of Dermot Finn

The Reflecting Skin

Visiting Mr Beak

SPYING & VOYEURISM

Ridley's characters are always spying & creeping on one another. In his early short film Visiting Mr. Beak we see a young boy spying on an older man he's fascinated with. This transfers over to his first feature film (The Reflecting Skin) where our young protagonist spies on a woman he believes to be a vampire. And all throughout The Passion Of Darkly Noon we see Brendan Frasier spying on Ashley Judd whenever she's having sex, masturbating or changing clothes...

The Passion Of Darkly Noon

The Reflecting Skin

The Reflecting Skin

Visiting Mr Beak

Visiting Mr Beak

MENTAL ILLNESS, DEPRESSION & SUICIDE

Philip Ridley has spent a lot of time working with youth suffering from depression and other various forms of mental illness (for those that don't know he has an extensive career as a playwright and sometimes works with troubled youth as actors in his plays). This clearly comes through in every single one of his feature films. There is always at least one character who commits suicide (The Passion Of Darkly Noon & The Reflecting Skin) or offers up their body in a kind of sacrificial way (Heartless)

death by self-inflicted shotgun blast in The Passion Of Darkly Noon

contemplating suicide in Heartless

death by gasoline in The Reflecting Skin

THE MALE PHYSIQUE

With the exception of Ashley Judd in The Passion Of Darkly Noon, Philip Ridley focuses his lens on the sweaty, shirtless male physique with a highly sexual gaze...

The Passion Of Darkly Noon

Heartless

Heartless

The Krays

The Reflecting Skin

DEMONS, VAMPIRES & UNCONVENTIONAL MONSTERS

While it may not seem so at first, Philip Ridley is very much a horror director. He may not follow down the same path as filmmakers like Wes Craven or Roger Corman but every one of his feature films has some kind of demon, monster, ghost, supernatural being or a combination of all...

The Passion Of Darkly Noon

The Passion Of Darkly Noon

Heartless 

The Krays

The Reflecting Skin

MEMORIES & FLASHBACKS

The characters in Ridley's cinematic universe often live in the past because they aren't satisfied with their current lives.

"Roxy" (The Passion f Darkly Noon) lost her family years ago and hangs on to photos so she can cope. The family in The Reflecting Skin cant wait for their eldest son to return home from war (they cant seem to function without him), and "Jamie" (Heartless) constantly thinks about his late father who he was extremely close to (*SPOILER* He doesn't find peace until he actually joins his father in the afterlife).

The Passion Of Darkly Noon

The Universe Of Delmot Finn

Heartless

The Krays

The Reflecting Skin

The Reflecting Skin

AMERICAN GOTHIC

Even though Philip Ridley is English, half of his film work is specific to southern/midwest American Gothic. The Architecture in his movies cant be mistaken for anything but classic American style reminiscent to the work of Andrew Wyeth

The Passion Of Darkly Noon

The Passion Of DarklyNoon

The Reflecting Skin

The Reflecting Skin

TEMPTATION & SEDUCTION

From Lee fighting his sexual urges & desires towards Ashley Judd's Callie in The Passion Of Darkly Noon to Cameron slowly falling for Delphin in The Reflecting Skin (which happens to coincide with his failing health), The male characters are always tested sexually by a sultry (usually) female seductress...

The Passion Of Darkly Noon

The Passion f Darkly Noon

picking up a John in Heartless

Heartless

The Reflecting Skin

FAMILY TIES

While most of the families in Ridley's films are highly dysfunctional (The Reflecting Skin & The Passion Of Darkly Noon), they still remain connected/close in some fashion.

There's also glimmers of hope within the dysfunction. The father/son relationship is incredibly strong in Heartless, the Kray brothers have a strong (twin) bond and Seth idolizes his older brother in a positive way.

The Passion Of Darkly Noon

The Universe Of Delmot Finn

Heartless

The Krays

The Reflecting Skin