Sadly always current, this blackest of comedies showcases the most powerful weapon of terrorism: stupidity. Morris thoroughly researched the lives of second and third generation Muslims in the UK, aggrieved low class men (and women) completely integrated into society while re-creating a foreign identity. The most interesting point made in the film is that the most religious Muslim is the one that warns about the dangers of extremism, while the secular and westernized characters are the responsible of terrorist role-playing and finally violence. Highly recommended.
Monday, May 17, 2021
Sunday, May 2, 2021
"The Assistant" (2019), Kitty Green & "The Hunt" (2012), Thomas Vinterberg.
A secretary working untenable hours under a Hollywood producer that sleeps around. A kindergarden teacher gets falsely accused of pedophilia. The horror of everyday life under contemporary society is way more scary than any supernatural slasher, ghost or demon. It is real, it depends on unstoppable legal and social structures. It can happen to you.
"The Assistant" shows a work day in the life of a smart university graduate assisting a powerful man. Every activity, from the moment she gets into the office until she gets out, seems to be anxiety inducing because they don't come from a sense of professional pride but from fear. The movie is powerful despite its flawed central thesis based on feminism and the narrative of the #meetoo movement. The alienation of workers and the toxicity of the office environment under a despot is so extreme that the power-for-sex exchange appears trivial. And people still will scramble to have the life of modern slavery that the protagonist has.
"The Hunt" happens in a small town in a country with an embarrassment of riches. With no bigger societal problems to tackle, an overzealous kindergraden/nursery director destroys the life of a divorced teacher by weaponizing a little lie by one of the kids. The town gets thrown into a silent frenzy against one of their peers. They find a sense of community in this activity, togetherness, a way to feel alive. It is just a continuation of the hunts they do in a nearby forest. Do they feel shame when everything is proved false? Not one bit. Some excuses offscreen, and under their breath the delusion continues. You are never safe again.
Both movies are quite unsettling, albeit in different ways and with different stakes. The Assistant could be fired, the Hunted can be killed. Both are terrifying.
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