What If (2013)

I remember when What If came out an eternity ago and I really wanted to see it because I was in a post-Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe crush period, but for a reason I don't recall I skipped it. The Radcliffe crush is over now, but I do have a crush on Adam Driver and Mackenzie Davis at the moment, and I really like Zoe Kazan, so I finally checked it out. 

The story follows Wallace (Daniel Radcliffe), a medical school dropout who is not very good at relationships and decides to put his love life on hold while everyone around him is finding the perfect partner. One night at a party though, he instantly bonds with Chantry (Zoe Kazan) and falls for her. Unfortunately, she already is in a serious relationship with Ben (Rafe Spall), and she just wants them to be friends.

My biggest fear going into What If was that it would be a predictable and clichéd romantic comedy that questions whether a man and a woman can be just friends, and, unfortunately, that's exactly how it was. A rather unoriginal and dull story.

The characters didn't work much better for me either. While Wallace and Chantry are both lovable in their awkwardness, they still are pretty shallow and one-dimensional, and there's something kind of unlikeable about them, especially about Chantry, and I couldn't really care for them. Same goes with the supporting characters, they are too plain, bland, and come off as cardboard and unlikeable and annoying.

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The cast, on the other hand, does a pretty good job and it's about What If's only saving grace. Despite they all are given very little to do, Daniel Radcliffe brings his dry humour to the film and plays Wallace in a way that it's not (too) annoying —he's not as good as he's in Swiss Army Man though—, Koe Kazan is so charming and sweet you can't help but fall in love with Chantry, even though I did not like the character at all, and they have nice chemistry. It's the supporting cast though that steals the show as Adam Driver and Mackenzie Davis easily give the funniest performances.

Ultimately, What If felt like a huge waste of potential to me.

Wildlife (2018)

I really like Paul Dano as an actor and Zoe Kazan is really growing on me, so the two of them co-writing a script and Dano directing the movie is definitely something I cannot overlook. If you have Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal, you get a movie one an idiot can pass. So yeah, I had huge expectations for Dano's directorial debut, Wildlife. 

Set in 1960, the story follows the Brinson family, Jeanette (Carey Mulligan), Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) and their teenage son, Joe (Ed Oxenbould), as they move to Great Falls, Montana. When Jerry loses his job and refuses to take it back out of pride, he decides to join a group of volunteers to fight fires. As soon as Jerry leaves, something awakens in Jeanette and Joe is suddenly forced into the role of an adult. 

Based on Richard Ford's novel of the same name, Dano's Wildlife has a simple and yet gripping story that is both a coming-of-age drama as Joe is forced to grow up way before his time and a portrayal of a woman's existential crisis as Jeanette realises she doesn't know who she is outside of the perfect 1950s housewife. 

As you probably guessed, it's not a plot-heavy film. On the contrary, it's one of those movies that entirely relies on the characters and that's the film's greatest strength as the characters are complex and quite fascinating. Joe isn't just a kid witnessing his parents' marriage falling apart, as the film is described on any major movie website; he is a 14-year-old boy who is forced to step up and be the man of the house when his father leaves, forced to get a job and leave education and teen experiences —like having a girlfriend— behind; he is a boy who helplessly watches his mother fall apart. Jeaninne is the typical loving, seemingly happy but actually bitter, unhappy (house)wife subservient to her husband. She feels trapped in her life and when her husband leaves, she sees her opportunity to reinvent herself. At first, she comes off as a self-absorbed, selfish, cold bitch —pardon my langauge— but, as the film moves forward, we learn who she really is, a lost woman who is so used to being lost, unhappy that she doesn't recognize herself nor happiness when it's right in front of her. Jerry loves his wife and son; he is a good-natured man but he just doesn't seem to be able to keep a job and he is too proud to take low-paying, humiliating —according to him— jobs such as bag boy. 

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As for the performances, they are very compelling. Carey Mulligan truly conveys her character's psychological breakdown and delivers a performance filled with genuine emotions. Jake Gyllenhaal is great as usual as the hard-working father. Bill Camp provides solid support as the man Jeanette has an affair with. It's Ed Oxenbould that steals the show though with a subtle and yet intense performance as Joe.

In addition, Wildlife features a stunning cinematography and a score that fits the story incredibly well. As for Dano's direction, I think he did pretty well. While at times the film is a bit melodramatic, the characters' actions don't always make sense —Jerry's behaviour towards the end—, the film is overall gripping and telling the story from the boy's perspective is a winning choice as it allows you to experience the story as Joe does. 

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

As you probably know if you have been following me for a while, I'm not the biggest fan of westerns, which is why I decided to pass The Ballad of Buster Scruggs when it released. Yes, even though the Coen brothers made it. And the cast is stellar. It's been popping out in my Netflix homepage quite often lately so I decided to give it a shot.

It is a western anthology that features six stories taking place in the Old West: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs follows a cheerful and singing gunslinger (Tim Blake Nelson); Near Algodones follows a nameless cowboy (James Franco) who gets caught in a bank robbery; Meal Ticket follows an impresario (Liam Neeson) and his armless and legless young artist (Harry Melling) who travel from town to town to recite classics; All Gold Canyon follows an elderly prospector (Tom Waits) at a remote creek; The Gal Who Got Rattled follows the journey of a young woman (Zoe Kazan) on a westward-bound wagon train; The Mortal Remains follows the five passengers of a stagecoach.

These are six stories that have very little in common as they don't share the plot, characters nor have the same tone —while the first is purely comedic relief, the stories get more serious and darker as the film moves forward. And yet The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is the most compelling, fun and thought-provoking anthology I've seen as each story has its unique take on death, which came in many forms in the Wild West, while dealing with human frailty, morality, vanity, overconfidence, and duplicity.

In addition, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is filled with compelling characters. They don't have a lot of depth nor development as time does not allow that, but they immediately feel real, they are likeable and sympathetic, and interesting to follow around —I found myself invested in all of them.

The acting is also great. Everyone does a wonderful job, from James Franco to Liam Neeson to Zoe Kazan but there are a few standouts: Tim Blake Nelson is brilliant as the titular character, Buster Scruggs; Stephen Root is very mesmerizing as a bank teller in the second story; Tom Waits absolutely nails the role of a gold prospector.

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The screenplay is also filled with brilliant dialogue, especially in the final vignette as the five characters discuss different philosophical topics. In addition, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs has gorgeous, jaw-dropping cinematography that transports you to the setting of the film, the Old West.  The scenery is also on point and the costumes are great. The score is phenomenal, and the songs from the first story are very catchy and enjoyable.

Ultimately, this is a film that blends action, comedy, drama and romance incredibly well, that keeps you interested and engaged in spite of the stories being completely different from one another. What I would change something about it? Well, maybe as I've liked the characters to connect as they do in Tarantino's movies.