Star Pick with Justin Paul Kelly

Opening at the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics (an actual newsreel from the event), 1934's Search for Beauty, directed by Erle C. Kenton (Island of Lost Souls; The Ghost of Frankenstein), is a sharply written and unbelievably edgy drama that would not have passed code just a few short months later (once the Motion Picture Production Code, also known as the Hays Code, came into effect). A clash between immorality and a sort of athletic purity, two ex-cons, Larry Williams (Robert Armstrong) and Jean Strange (Gertrude Michael), newly released from prison, quickly come up with a new cash friendly scheme. Teaming with their money-man, Dan Healy (James Gleason), they plan on purchasing a ‘Health and Exercise’ magazine (and a ramshackle hotel that comes with it), turning it into a pre-Playboy rag magazine full of sultry stories and lurid photographs.

John Michael McDonagh’s follow up to The Guard, 2014's Calvary (which he again writes and directs), is a thought provoking mystery infused drama which delves into irony, theology, predestination, and how the wounds of the past influence the present in most powerful ways. Opening with a quotation from Saint Augustine – “Do not despair; one of the thieves was saved. Do not presume; one of the thieves was damned.”, we are then introduced to our main character, Father James (Brendan Gleeson), a good man in small town Ireland. Originally married with a daughter, when his wife died, he followed a calling to the priesthood, attempting to impart his spiritual wisdom and some much needed solace to his flock.

“The cruelest dream, reality”. . . a lyric from The Offspring’s iconic song that shares the same title as this article, speaks volumes to today’s feature. 1986's River’s Edge, written by Neal Jimenez and directed by Tim Hunter, takes a bleak look at the lives of a group of teens growing up in northern California during the MTV generation. Arguably holding a twisted link to Stand by Me, which was released the very same year, this holds the lens to older teens. . . focusing more on the Kiefer Sutherland character’s age group rather the tweens of that feature. A dual analysis could definitely reap some benefits.

Like a twisted take on the vigilante sub-genre of the 1970s (think Billy Jack or Dirty Harry), writer/director Emerald Fennell turns a lens on modern society with her 2020 film Promising Young Woman – a most thought provoking tale for our time. Following Cassandra (Carey Mulligan – an absolute powerhouse here which has earned her an Oscar nod), she is a woman in her early thirties who is stuck in time. With a tragic event from her past that has forever changed her present and future, the former medical school student now finds herself working a dead end job at a coffee shop for friend Gail (Laverne Cox).

A tale of its time, writer/director S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk; Brawl in Cell Block 99), takes us into dangerous terrain. . . no, not some bloody wartime feature or psychotic mystery/thriller, but rather into the realm of conservative and liberal, cops and criminals, race and racism, preconceived notions, and cancel culture, with his 2018 film Dragged Across Concrete. If you’ve seen Zahler’s previous efforts, you’ll likely know what to expect – fantastic, if lengthy dialogue (with a very specific and unique rhythm), combined with shocking moments of violence. Almost written more like a novel than a screenplay, it is a fascinating study. . . but more on that later.

One of the most iconic films showing off 1960s London (specifically 1966) is intriguingly written and shot by an Italian, Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blowup (which is sometimes hyphenated or has a space between the two words), an abstract vision of this most unique and swinging time. Seen through the eyes (or should I say camera – a sort of heightened reality) of famed photographer Thomas (David Hemmings), it is immediately noticeable that he is a walking juxtaposition. Both energetic and apathetic, he has more ups and downs than a roller coaster. Lacking passion or a proper plan, the story, like his unknown future aspirations, doesn’t follow a traditional plot pattern.