MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, MR. MALCOLM’S LIST, MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON

MRS HARRIS GOES TO PARIS | Focus Features | Writer/Director Anthony Fabian | Co-writers Carroll Cartwright, Olivia Hetreed, Keith Thompson |Based on Book Paul Gallico

“Dresses are everything to me,” Christian Dior famously wrote in his memoirs.

The iconic fashion designer, who suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 52 while on vacation in Italy in October of 1957, had, in the last decade of his life, redefined haute couture. Unveiling his first collection February 12, 1947 at 30, Avenue de Montaigne, Paris France. 

Like the other fashion focused film Leslie Manville did in 2017 Phantom Thread, (click for T&T review) it’s all about the dresses for me.  Oscar winning Costume Designer Jenny Beavan (Cruella, click for T&T Review) was brought in to recreate some of Dior’s finest.

“Beavan is one of the greatest costume designers Britain has ever produced. Her attention to detail is awe-inspiring. She’s very instinctive in the way she puts things together, and she has a unique approach to color.” – Director Anthony Fabian

Beavan also had the benefit of working directly with representatives from Dior to access their historic archives, which contained, among other items, Dior’s original sketches and workbooks, patterns for his designs and loans of Dior jewelry, hats and shoes.  More importantly, Dior also loaned the production five outfits from its heritage collection; for use in the pivotal fashion show scene where Mrs. Harris finally makes it to Paris.  Beavan and her team dutifully recreated all the rest of the pieces that appear in the film.

“We were also trying desperately to get the fabrics right, the weight of the Dior, because his stuff is really heavy. Fabrics were thicker then because there wasn’t so much central heating.”  –  Jenny Beavan

This has always been one of my dreams, to afford to dress in good fabrics. I’ve always noted that when Helen Mirren is photographed in real-life, she wears clothes made of particularly weighted and really rich materials. Not for warmth, it’s all about class and elegance.

Mrs. Ada Harris (Lesley Manville) has just recently been officially deemed a widow. Her Eddie never returned from the war, missing in action, up until now when his death has been confirmed.  She earns a living cleaning houses. She’s not ashamed of her line of work or particularly proud, but she’s meticulous.  The cleaning montage introduces us to a number of her clients, but particularly, the young inspiring actress who’s flat is always in much disarray. And a couple living off their good name, but no longer have the funds to pay Mrs. Harris for the work she puts in each week; forever promising to settle their debts with her the next time.  It’s in this woman’s house where Mrs. Harris notices an exquisite gown hanging in the closet. When the woman sees her admiring it, she admits that at 500 pounds, the dress is more than she can afford at this time, but that when she wears it nothing else matters.  What I appreciate about Mrs. Harris is that she doesn’t mentally condemn the woman for buying a dress with the money she should be using to pay her wage.  She doesn’t secretly judge and think that’s frivolous. Rather she simply admires the gown; having never heard the name Christian Dior in her life.

Mrs. Harris has a very trim figure, and she keeps herself tidy even while working, but she’s no fashionista.  But similar to how someone who doesn’t know much about art can fall in love with a certain painting.  Mrs. Harris falls in love with Dior and knows she must get a 500 GBP (France equivalent) dress of her very own.  Of course, this is not accomplished easily, first she has to gather the sum, which the Universe begins to provide from many sources. And then she has to get passed the gatekeeper at Dior – the formidable Madame Colbert (Isabelle Huppert).  Along the way, Mrs. Harris meets and befriends a cast of other characters in France, which broadens her outlook outside her previously established station in life. 

At times I feel some of the charm and Ada Harris’ good natured pushiness is a bit forced. But on the whole, it’s impossible not to find favor with this light-hearted fairytale-like cinematic offering.  And of course, the gowns!

T&T@LAMB rating: 3.75 outta 5

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING | Sony Pictures Releasing|Producer Reese Witherspoon|Director Olivia Newman|Screenplay Lucy Alibar|Book Delia Owens

I gotta say what disappointed me about this movie is not whether or not they captured the book, as I never read the book; or even heard of it, despite its NY Times Best Seller popularity and high honor of being a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick.  What disappointed me is that I thought I was going to see a movie about a wild, feral girl who grunted and hunted for food on all fours.  Instead, Kya (Jojo Regina/ Daisy Edgar Jones) is a lovely, gentle, intelligent, artistic young lady, despite having been abandoned one by one by her considerably large family, to be left to her own devices in the Marshlands of North Carolina.

People in the nearby town know this young girl is living all alone in a shack in the swamp, but other than the occasional truant officer who half-heartedly tries to find her. Nobody cares. Well, they care enough to ridicule her and make her the butt of their jokes. And later condemn her as a murderer without any proof, becoming the epitome of the angry towns people with pitchforks and torches.

Fortunately, Kya does have a few allies, the black couple that run the general store (Michael Hyatt (she/her) & Sterling Macer Jr. ); Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith) a friend of her deserting brother, who teaches her to read and much more; and the kindly retired Attorney, Tom Milton (David Strathairn) who agrees to defend Kya in the trial to convict her of the murder of her ex-boyfriend Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson).

Daisy Edgar Jones played an extremely likable heroine in the crazy, cannibal movie FLESH on Hulu. And she gives a wonderful performance in this film as a resourceful, beguiling, woman of nature.  But I couldn’t help but wonder how she had so many cute outfits? And why the mosquitos never seemed to bother anyone? Or the alligators or snakes or any other wild creature which would inhabit these woods and swamp.  Are you really gonna tell me Kya was safe sleeping out in that barely screened in porch night after night and nothing got in to take a bite out of her, not man nor beast?  What we see throughout the film is nature always depicted as tranquil and peaceful. Just existing so she can capture it in illustrations, like some Marshland Cinderella.

I think this is one where you need to have fallen in love with the book or Taylor Swift’s song Carolina to feel anything other than mild interest in Where The Crawdads Sing.

T&T @LAMB rating: 3 outta 5

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER | Writer/Director Taika Waititi | Marvel Studios/Disney | Co-writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson |Exe Producer Kevin Feige

Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth seem to go together like clowns in a tiny car, they really seem to share the same sense of zany, almost child-like whimsy.  I always wish we could have Taika do a reboot on Thor’s origin story  “Thor” and sequel “Thor the Dark World” I feel these are the weakest links in the MCU.  It was way before Chris realized this Norse God could be played as kind of a bro and a little bit of a meathead. Hemsworth started bringing that funny side of Thor out in “The Avengers” and then Taika just ran with it for “Thor: Ragnarok”.  One of the most dry parts of the first two Thor movies is Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) 0 chemistry for me between she and Thor (I feel the same way about Dr. Strange and Dr. Christine Palmer). But “Thor Love and Thunder” gives us a Jane Foster we can now care about, first with her irreverently fighting cancer, love the scene when Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) comes to visit Jane while she’s enduring sitting still long enough for chemo. But I’m surprised at how convincing she is as Mighty Thor! – with Mjölnir reassembling itself for her transformation, it’s a little crumbly, but still powerful.  Seeing Thor, seeing Jane, as himself, wielding his old hammer was priceless and instantly created the chemistry that was formerly lacking between these two.  Not to mention the thru line gag of Thor’s Stormbreaker expressing intense jealousy over Thor’s old feelings for Mjölnir.

I’m not gonna go into the whole plot, but I do wanna talk about the villain Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) who is chewing the scenery a bit, but it rather works.   The MCU Disney series “Moon Knight” introduced us to the fact that Gods can be real assholes sometimes, but I wonder if Taika also watched any of my very favorite show “The Magicians” which started as a series on the SyFy channel but can be streamed on Netflix.  In this show the characters are constantly coming up against some very unsavory and completely selfish Gods.  They expect humans to worship them, but they want to give nothing in return or they’re big on trickster moves. Gorr in his human form, still mourning the loss of his daughter, finds out he’s been worshiping a Sun God who’s really a total dick, so it’s no wonder he decides to make killing these so called Illustrious Beings his life’s work. After we meet Zeus himself, a hilarious Russell Crowe cameo, it’s obvious Gorr is not entirely off track.   But of course, Thor, existential crises aside, cares much for humans and all creatures he encounters, may it be a talking racoon, Rocket (Bradley Cooper) or a piles of rocks Korg (Taika Waititi) and is selfless in his defense of all planets and societies in turmoil.  The whole movie could have been over in 20 minutes if Gorr had just realized, Gods are a race just like any other, with good and bad apples, you just can’t blanket stereotype 😀  

All in all, I laughed every time those Viking ship pulling giant goats screamed. And when this movie starts streaming on Disney+ I will be replaying more times than I should admit, Thor’s (Hemsworth’s) glorious naked body on display 👀 💗

T&T LAMB Rating: 4.5 Outta 5

Mr. Malcolm’s List | Bleecker Street | Director Emma Holly Jones | Writer Suzanne Allain 

What is it about the simplicity of the Regency Era that’s just so damn delightful?  The stories written by Austen, Dickens and the Brontes continue to inspire new writers looking to capture the sense of propriety, wit, romanticism, and high society.  And so many of us continue to gravitate to these stories where the past, though fraught with social obligations and caste systems, still seems so lavishly, elegantly easy.

Mr. Malcolm’s List is the latest period piece offering.  My first thought, as many will agree, was that this creative team thought to cash in on the success of Netflix’s Bridgerton and create something very similar.  Turns out this story predates Bridgerton, it just didn’t have the powerhouse of Shondaland behind this piece to get it to market sooner; but in fact, in 2015 director Emma Holly Jones (directorial debut) discovered Suzanne Allain script “Mr. Malcolm’s List”, both artists are white, but Jones after seeing Hamilton felt certain the casting should be diverse with a black male in the title role. 

Cut to 7 years later (during which a well-received short was produced) we have Mr. Malcolm (Sopé Dìrísù) as a serious minded second son to an Earl, with a fine inheritance of his own left to him by a wealthy aunt.  He’s been on the hunt for a wife for some time, but this season he’s most desirous to seal the deal with some eligible young lady.  He’s not concerned about their dowry.  They do not have to be a member of a titled family, but there are many other prerequisites this bride-to-be must meet which The Honorable Mr. Jeremy Malcolm has jotted down into a list.  He makes the mistake of divulging the contents of the list to his old friend Lord Cassidy (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) who is the cousin of Julia Thistlewaite (Zawe Ashton) the woman Mr. Malcolm escorted to the opera and found rather insipid. Somehow his disinterest with Miss Thistlewaite makes it into an illustration of a widely read paper, think similar to a New Yorker cartoon.  Julia already on her 4^th season with still few prospects, is humiliated by this negative attention. To add insult to injury, Lord Cassidy aka Cassie, thinking it will help the situation, tells Julia that she simply didn’t hit all the marks on Malcolm’s list. This infuriates Julia further creating an all-consuming need to seek revenge.

Enters Julia’s childhood friend Selina Dalton (Freida Pinto) who is also an executive producer and has not changed at all since Slumdog Millionaire.  Selina is the daughter of a well-respected Minister of a small Parish, but was educated at the same fine school as Julia, due to a benefactor of the church.  Selina loving Julia so, is swept up in her plans to humiliate the arrogant Mr. Malcolm.

A note from the Costume Designer Pam Downe: “While it is common to see Regency-era women depicted in simple white muslin dresses, Downe discovered that by 1818, the year of Mr. Malcolm’s List, that trend had mostly passed.” That gave me the freedom to use more sumptuous, structured silks, which gave us a stronger silhouette and seemed a bit more interesting,” she notes. “Simple silhouettes cinched tightly under the bosom created an innocent and youthful look, while luxurious fabrics and trims displayed the wearer’s status.

All in all, there’s none of the hot steamy sex of Bridgerton season 1.  But there is engaging chemistry between all parties and fun to be had till the ultimate happy ending.

 T&T LAMB rating: 3.5 outta 5

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON | A24 | Writer/Director Dean Fleischer-Camp |Co-writers Jenny Slate & Nick Paley |

The idea for this little guy originated in 2010 as a series of super low budget YouTube videos created by Jenny Slate and her then-husband, Dean Fleischer Camp.  I never saw them or caught wind of this viral sensation, so when I saw the trailer for Marcel, I was flummoxed as to how something like this could have gotten the greenlight, yet also was I intrigued.

Slate, on the Late Night talk show rounds, explained that over a decade ago when funds were really tight, she, her then boyfriend Fleischer Camp, and 3 other friends, all shared a hotel room for another friend’s wedding.  Needless to say, the quarters were crowded, and Slate started talking in this tiny, child-like voice, feeling kinda small and squished. Fleischer Camp playing along, decided to ask her questions about this small voice and it grew from there.  Becoming Marcel, a tiny seashell with one googly eye (are googly eyes trending for 2022?) little pink shoes, a CGI’d mouth and nothing else. He seems to be a very astute child, with definite opinions, very little filter, and a good grasp of the world for someone who has never left the Air BnB in which he and his grandmother, Nana Connie (Isabella Rossellini) reside. He in a planter, sleeping on a piece of bread; and Nana managing at her advanced years, to climb a little ladder into a jewelry box each night. 

Fleischer Camp plays the human who has discovered these two, as all other tenants who have come and gone from the Air BnB never noticed talking shells. His relationship to Marcel and Nana reminds me of Dave from Alvin and the Chipmunks, always amused, mostly patient and encouraging of their gifts. 

The majority of the film, a blend of live-action and stop motion animation, which took, all toll, 7 years to complete, is mainly Fleischer Camp’s character filming a little documentary of the simple everyday moments in the life of Marcel & Nana – like Marcel riding inside a tennis ball to get around the house. Walking through honey to stick to walls, rigging a bread mixer with string out a window to shake fruit from a tree, drinking water from a bottle cap, gardening in a flower bed, using the metal part of a pencil where an eraser had been, as a little backpack and so many other found objects used ingeniously in their little world; including putting a mesh colander over Nana to keep her safe, almost like a dog crate.  And of course, watching “The Show” what they call 60 Minutes, which makes a marvelous cameo.

But it’s not all musings and observations, there’s deep sadness too as these two were once part of a large community, all of whom vanished one night never to be heard from or seen again. Leaving Marcel with a deep sense of loss and fear of abandonment.

Marcel The Shell with Shoes On is endearing in its guilelessness, in that Leave it to Beaver kind of humor which pokes fun at the little foibles of human nature.  War! Let the battle begin, Marcel

T&T LAMB rating: 4.5 outta 5