Displaying items by tag: Joel Edgerton

THE PLAGUE

US, 2025, 98 minutes, Colour.

Joel Edgerton, Everett Blunck, Kayo Martin, Kenny Rasmussen, Lucas Adler, Caden Burris, Elliot Heffernan, Lennox Espy, Kolton Lee, Nicolas Rasmussen.

Directed by Charlie Polinger.

Seeing this title, audiences may be expecting a film about an epidemic, spreading, challenges, the response of authorities in handling these challenges. An expectation from the Covid-experience, perhaps.

But, it is not that kind of plague.

Rather, this is a story about youngsters, 12 and 13 years old, taking part in a summer camp, swimming, water polo, an opportunity for enjoyment, letting off steam, character building.

Though set in 2003, here is a warning, that youngsters around the world, at least in affluent countries, can be infected by an immoral, emotional, destructive plague Jews were from expectations of masculinity.

It asked whether an audience would like the film, the reply is probably both a yes and a no. Yes to the raising of difficult social questions, no to the experience of watching this cross-section of ordinary boys, their bonding, the bullying, some unsubtle domination, cruelty, precocious sex attitudes, and their seeming lack of awareness or the presumption that this is how their life and behaviour should be.

The moral anchor in the film is the supervisor at the camp, played by Joel Edgerton, meeting the boys, hoping to train them, but having to talk seriously with some of them, urging them to have a sense of shame for some of their behaviour.

One boy emerges from the others, Ben (Brown), ordinary background, rather more introverted, caught up in the expectations of how he ought to behave, it becoming more and more sensitive to another boy, Eli (Rasmussen) with a severe rash, always wearing a T-shirt, isolated, ridiculed, rather eccentric in his behaviour, an easy outlet for an attack by the leaders and followers. They declare he has the plague, urging each other not to go near, touch, or if contaminated, wash and wash.

One of them has a charming smile, Jake (Martin), initially beguiling, emerging as smug, cruel, manipulative. The smile becomes a self-satisfied smirk, even when the supervisor asks whether they have ever felt shame, Jake speaking out and telling the supervisor that that is what he is actually doing to him publicly.

The experience becomes almost too much for Ben, kindly rubbing lotion into Eli’s rash, condemned as having the plague, wanting to escape the camp, finally having to face his 13-year-old self, going to the camp dance, a frenzy, dance, motion… And the audience wondering: what now? Retreating from the issues or Ben finding strength to be his better self?

1. The title, overtones of plague, plagues in history, plagues in films?
2. The focus on 12 and 13-year-old boys, memories of Lord of the Flies? But in 2003, no stranded island, a youth camp, swimming pools and dining rooms…?
3. The setting, the camp, outside, the swimming pools, the constant underwater photography, the showers and changing rooms, the dining room and self-service, the dormitories, long corridors…?
4. The introduction to the camp, boys, their age, the later introduction of the girls, the superintendent, his speech, explanations – and his later interventions, the interview with Jake, the discussions with Ben, making decisions, discipline, his speeches about shaming?
5. The range of boys, their cohering as a group, meeting each other, their ages, pre-puberty, yet frank sexual talk, eyeing the girls, leaders and followers, the swimming, horseplay the water polo, the superintendent asking them, their reticence in replying? Leadership emerging, Jake and his look, smile, seeming innocence? The boys’ response, the followers?
6. Eli, separate from the rest, the discussion about the plague, always clothed, even in the water? Boycotted, alone, his behaviour by himself? With the big cardboard cutout? Eating alone, sleeping, in the corridor? With the swimming? The joke with Ben and slicing his finger?
7. Gradual focus on Ben, his story, not much explanation, age, appearance, quiet, on the camp, the influence of Jake, interaction with the others, trying to keep up, yet introverted? His interest in Eli, reaching out to him, talking to him, sympathy, the lotion and his back, the reaction of the boys, the theory of washing after any contact with Eli, self-consciousness, the pimples of his face, the emergence of the rash, the plague, and the rest of the group separating from him?

8. Jake, the smug look, being confronted by the superintendent, Ben seeing this, the later public discussion, the issue of shaming and Jake’s interview with the superintendent, the issue of shaming him in public?
9. The effect on Ben, the life of the camp, with Eli, overwhelmed, phoning his mother, her phoning the superintendent, his collecting him, the discussions with Ben, affirming him, to be himself?
10. The dance, Ben going in, Eli dancing with the cardboard cutout, taking it, cutting it up, Eli in the corridor, the trick with his finger the blood, his actually cutting his finger off, the superintendent and Ben hurrying through the corridor, the blood dripping, to the car, to hospital?
11. The effect on Ben, his going into the dance, the gradual motion, dancing, frenzy, and outburst?
12. The future for Ben, the film ending with the frenzy of the dance, what now? A retreat into himself or having the courage to go beyond himself?
13. The themes, contemporary, boys, young men, bullying, mail image, “toxic masculinity”, confidence and self-identification?

TRAIN DREAMS

US, 2025, 102 minutes, Colour.

Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, William H.Macy, Clifton Collins Jr, Alfred Hsing, Paul Schneider, Nathanial Arcand, John Diehl. Narrated by Will Patton.

Directed by Clint Bentley.

Here is an impressive piece of Americana. It is based on an award-winning novella of the same name by Dennis Johnson, 2011. It has been written and directed by Clint Bentley, with his collaborator, Greg Kweder, who were Oscar-nominated for the screenplay for the recent Sing Sing.

This is a film about a very ordinary American, Robert Granier, birth to death, from the 1880s to the 1960s, an extraordinary span of change. In most ways, Robert Granier could be considered to have lived what might be called “an unremarkable life”. As a boy, not knowing who his parents were, sent to live in a small town, accepted, growing up there, ordinary jobs around the town, the years passing, nothing particularly much happening.

By the time he is 30, he is working as a logger, chopping the trees, sawing them, out on locations, the railways, laying tracks, building bridges, but just one of the group of similar men, most rather introspective, the silent types, dedicated to their work.

Robert Granier is played by Australian Joel Edgerton, a fine performance, and because of his not being conversational, the film has a frequent voice-over, by actor Will Patton, who is able to articulate what the quiet Robert cannot: his ordinary life and work, encounters with his fellow workers, surprise at the prejudice against the Chinese and shock when the workers throw one of the Chinese over a bridge, later feeling guilt about this occasion, and, on a return home, encountering Gladys, Felicity Jones, at church, she initiating the friendship which leads to marriage, the building of a house, the birth of their daughter, joy for them both, but a surprising joy for Robert.

The film moves at a measured pace, offering the audience a lot of time for reflection, opportunities for a ruminative response, even offering moments that could lead to meditation on life and its meaning. And, there are the dreams, Robert’s happy dreams, after a destructive fire unhappy dreams and hauntings.

Out in the forests, there are some interesting characters, especially William H Macy as Arn, an explosives expert, friendly, chatty, a sad death but an influence on Robert.

There is some hope for Robert later in his life, an encounter with a nurse from World War I, Kerry Condon, who is billeted at one of those towers built to observe and prepare for wildfires. And, finally, after living in his house without any amenities for so many decades, he ventures into the city, the 1960s, space exploration – and the offer of a ride in a small plane, to see the world from a bird’s point of view, but an exhilarating experience which brings back, visually on the screen for the audience, his images and memories, the people who were influential in his life, reminding him and us of his unremarkable but humanely ordinary life.

1. Popularity and awards of the original novella? The adaptation close to the spirit of the novella?
2. A piece of Americana, in the 19^th century into the 20^th, into the 1960s? From birth to death? A life lived, well-lived? The transition from the 1880s to the 1960s, the title and the symbolism of the railroads, branching out, travelling communication and, at the same time, the destruction of forests, the laying of tracks, building bridges? The train dreams of the development of the United States?
3. The photography, the forests, the railroads? The trees, the loggers work? The house and building it, the interiors? The various camps? The visits to the town? The photography of the fire? Going to the lookout? The later visits in the 20^th century? The atmospheric and meditative score?
4. The use of the narration, the tone of the voice-over, the voice-over important because of the silence of Robert?
5. The range of dreams, Robert’s imagination, subconscious surfacing, happy memories, nightmare memories, imaginative fantasies about his wife and daughter?
6. Robert’s story, from the 1880s to the 1960s? His background, scenes as a boy, no knowledge of his parents, living in the town, growing up? A silent boy, introverted? Growing up, work, moving to logging, the logging community, the experience of prejudice against the Chinese, the man thrown over the bridge, the effect on Robert and his consciousness, conscience? Going to church, Gladys and her approach, their keeping company, her saying it was a marriage and they need a ceremony to ratify it, life together, the birth of the baby, the joy of the baby, the details of life at home? His coming home in the happy reunions?
7. The details of Robert’s life, seemingly unremarkable but ordinary, his quiet, reflections? The friendships amongst the loggers? The preacher and his story, the pursuer arriving and shooting him? African-American? Arn, his age, explosives expert, the failure, success, his friendship with Robert, the conversations, the tree hitting him, affecting his mind, his death, the burial and the words?
8. Returning home, the train rides, the fire, its intensity, the burning of the house? Robert returning, loss, grief?
9. Robert, at home, gradual rebuilding, life alone, the years passing? The encounter with Billy, getting old, his loss of memory, thinking Arn was still alive? And Robert getting older?
10. His work, the carriage and horses, carrying the goods? His quiet life, the encounter with a large bear? The dogs becoming part of his life?
11. Clare, giving her the lift, her job, nurse during the war, the death of her husband? Friendship, conversation, shared wisdom? Her work, the tower, and the view from the tower?
12. The years passing, Robert’s simple life, none of the amenities and technical developments of the 20^th century? The decision to go to Spokane, the 1960s, space exploration, the man calling out to take him into the air, the realm of the birds? His going on the flight, the experience, some transcendence in his life?
13. In the flight, the opportunity for the images of his life to recur, the range of people in his life, the sadness and happiness in his unremarkable life? And his death?