Quinoa1984

The Snake Pit is one of those times where you may know it is not exactly a *great* movie - in fact it is for at least three or four reasons off the top of my head wildly dated (both due to advancements in science and pharmaceuticals and treatment in general and in how to show someone drowning in a fake ocean, and until Virginia goes to floor 1 every nurse is an abject cartoon terror) - but holy mother of pearl Olivia De Havilland just steps in to every scene wired to 100 and then goes to 250 by the end of each one.

Frankly, this is a performance that lifts up everyone else around her and that includes Litvak's claustrophobic and doggedly PoV-driven direction, and that includes her (unintentional) wisecracks and total bewilderment at everyone who yells at her. I mean there is literally a "the food is really terrible... and such small portions" moment in a cafeteria scene and you want to reach in to the screen and knock everyone down and just do SOMETHING to help this poor lady.

There are scenes that do not just verge on histrionics or over the top flights of Past Trauma Flashback mania, it dives in to them to show the full weight of what Virginia went through and her abandonment issues (and of course grief over losing a parent at a formative age) but the second paternal figure that was lost to the always-impactful Truck of Doom (you know it when you see it).

There are also scenes with the other mental patients in the wards, particularly when Virginia has a kind of psychological relapse and is sent back down to "floor 33" and the image of the title of the film is shown, that can be more hit or miss: sometimes the acting by these women is so out of control it takes away from the harsher drama of the scene, while other times it is so startling that you are still locked in and feeling for Virginia to get help in some way or form. And eventually there is even pathos in a dancing set piece with what appears to be all the patients and the doctors that culminates in a song that brings people to tears (maybe not Paths of Glory but close enough).

Of course, The Snake Pit is not something to hold up as an example of how the Mental Healthcare world would or should be today in any stretch - just continually electro-shocking someone into passivity is just bonkers by any stretch and should have been in 1948, not to mention Nurse Davis played like a B movie harridan with the Venom up to 11 by Helen Craig - but it is worthwhile as a heated character study and a stunning vehicle for an actress who immediately draws you in with her terrified eyes and perplexed voice overs.

Abraham's Boys is a really clever concept for any medium, and it is little wonder it began as a short story by Joe Hill (if it wasn't by him his dad would have taken a crack at something like this at some point); on the surface, it appears to be a "Sequel" to Dracula following Professor Van Helsing living in quiet **very sunny** California but, alas, the undead wont leave him and his young boys and wife Mina Harker alone. What stands out is the perspective and how this is closer to Bill Paxton's Frailty as far as twisted and grisly Father Knows Best pressure cooker where the two boys - one older (looking a lot like a stand-in for Zac Efron 20 years ago) and one younger - have to learn their dad's methods for destroying the cursed vampires... but are they that? Were they ever?

I think the movie means to make it clear that even if at some point there was just *one* blood-sucking Bad Guy Abe Van Helsing has killed innocent people (and the big guy Dracula is only mentioned in a cursory way, like it you say his name he will Beetlejuice into the story, maybe a slight misgiving but got to mention it), and that is what makes this so compelling and terrifying, even as this is not exactly a very scary "horror" so much as a domestic drama with the genre clothing. The film is also shot with a lot of harsh bright light during the day scenes (California and all) and there is this slow burn panic that sets in when we realize this story is not going the way we expected.

The Van Helsing of this story is so severe in fact, and giving TV's Bosch himself Titus Welliver a hell of a strong showcase, that he wouldn't be out of place in a brutal Ingmar Bergman existential tragedy. Once you know the tone that director Natasha Kermani has set and the stakes (hehe) for the kid characters to have in their way, not to mention their poor sick mom, you want to see where this goes next. If there is a downside in terms of execution of the material it's that the actors playing the sons are a little stiff, with Hepner keeping the same look of confusion and consternation while Mackey is just hanging on to get through some of the period-set dialog.

The more I think on the film though the more I respect it as it is a good formal swing, and not just because of the affected aspect ratio (though the black and white for the dream scenes is old hat). It gives a more genuine "what if" kind of twist on a world we all know than like Last Voyage of the Demeter, and if it is less than great it is more thoughtful as a rigorous tale of how some critical thinking skills need to take hold when it comes to parents sometimes (especially but not limited to when they are keeping helpless women locked in the cellar!) 6.5/10.

Senna keeps your attention from start to end simply by this man at the center, Ayrton Senna, and a certain enigmatic quality. I think that is by design, though it is more in perspective of other racers in the story, chiefly Alain Prost who was a multi-year champion who found in Senna a formidable competitor not in any political sense since he knew how to maneuver in the behind the scenes world, but just in the sense of "ok, I need to make a split second decision how I use THAT space or I am toast." That is probably the main relationship, if one can call it that, director Asif Kapadia gives the most breathing room to see unfold, and a lot of it is down to looks and expressions that maybe say more (at least to me) than words can.

I think I hooked into that because the documentary around that story is certainly interesting and full of gripping and engrossing footage - not one modern-day talking head is to be seen here, which is wonderful and keeps everything about what Senna was and meant and especially in his native Brazil where he seemed to be a Rock and Roll star - though it does keep things at a little bit of a distance when it comes to more personal matters. To be sure, not everything was captured on video or film and so what Senna had with his parents or siblings (who we see sparsely through home video footage) has to be surmised, and if the bits with the women around him is any indication he had no lack of that.

I don't know what Kapadia could have done to add or change that, so the director has to keep it because of his aesthetic demands to the racing and the footage taken in news coverage and BTS meetings like with the other drivers and the F1 board members. That seems to be more of a critique for me than it may be for you, yet the sole focus on "here was this race and then six months suspension goes by and here is the next race and YES HE WON AGAIN and then time goes and" details is what keeps it as "very good" if not "great" for me. The film certainly raises some questions not just about Senna but about competitors in sports and activies who are so Top of Their League that it not so much isolates but calcifices their status and creates this semi-mystery about them.

Did Senna know his time was up (ie other accidents were going on and another driver lost his life not long before he did)? Could he or would he have given it up to go fishing as that one man in his team gently suggested they go off to do, or was it that thing of "This is My LIFE/JOB" and that was that? It is a story that celebrates his accomplishments, but strangely I was left seeing it as a tragic tale not even so much for how Senna lost his life (though that seemed to be very suss mechanical malfeasance there) but for what life he gave up for everything to do with his profession. And maybe he was perfectly happy in his personal life, but especially in those last months Senna (the movie) makes success to be a kind of trap that can crush you if you are not careful or can't get out.

Whether Kapadia meant for it or not, it makes for something more thoughtful and somber, and that makes this valuable as more than a Here Are the Facts Wikipedia style run down.