Red Sparrow is a 2018 spy-thriller film directed by Francis Lawrence who worked with Jennifer Lawrence (the star here) on a couple of the Hunger Games movies, but this is a very different beast. Jennifer Lawrence plays Dominika Egorova (in, it has to be said, a not entirely convincing Russian accent), and Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenarts and Charlotte Rampling star as the film's secondary characters. This one is a pretty big departure from what Lawrence has done in the past, although it has to be said that she's making some pretty bold career choices. I'm not the first one to say that, and for a good reason: it's true. After last year's Mother! it appeared as if she was trying purposefully trying to appear in more "mature" films, and believe me, it doesn't get much more mature than Red Sparrow. The film plays out like one of those schlocky exploitation from the seventies, in that there's sexual violence, sex, violence, torture, and all manner o...
The Bad Batch is a 2016 horror-romance film written and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour, who rose to cult fame after the release of her 2014 film A Girl Who Walks Alone At Night. The film has just been released on Netflix, and stars Suki Waterhouse as Arlen and Jason Momoa as Miami Man. The supporting cast is made up of well-known actors like Keanu Reeves and Jim Carrey.
The film begins with Arlen walking into the desert, into an area where 'U.S laws no longer apply.' We later discover that there are two communes in existence in what is effectively a no-man's land for people who are deemed unsuitable to live in American society. At the start, Arlen is kidnapped and her left arm and leg are amputated by a cannibal, who she later escapes from and heads to a different commune called Comfort, where she is given a prosthetic leg and cared for. Later in the film, while walking through the desert, Arlen saves a young girl from her mother who is a cannibal, which spurs Miami Man to head out and discover where exactly his daughter has ended up.
If it wasn't clear already that Ana Lily Amirpour was interested in creating her own artistic style, it becomes pretty abundant here. The Bad Batch is a film which is almost beyond categorisation. There are elements of horror, romance, philosophy and thriller. The best way I can describe it is that at its core, The Bad Batch is an exploitation film. The thing it reminds me of most is a lot of those old low-budget violent exploitation films, or some of Quentin Tarantino's work. In my opinion, this film is a lot better and more unique than a lot of them.
I'll start with the good stuff. The cinematography in this film is amazing from start to finish. The first shot in which we see Arlen walking into the desert, her in the background and the sign telling us she's leaving U.S soil in the foreground, is incredible and very memorable. The overall style and costume design in the film is also great. The image of Arlen walking alone, gun held by her waist, could become iconic if the film finds its audience. I was never bored, either, despite the film's minimal dialogue and deliberate pace.
Which brings me to the bad stuff. A lot of the dialogue in this film (particularly an overlong scene involving Arlen and Keanu Reeves's the Dream) attempts to be philosophical and 'deep', but is actually pretty empty. The film has a very interesting concept, but Amirpour doesn't take it as far as she could have. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is a rich, complex film and shows what Amirpour is really capable of, and this time around I don't think she managed to achieve that.
Still, I'll keep watch of what Amirpour is going to do next. It's not that The Bad Batch is a bad film, it's just that she can do a lot better than this. Having said that, this film is incredibly unique, and I think people who are fans of arty exploitation films like Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive, or Gaspar Noe's Enter The Void, are going to find a lot to enjoy here.
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