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Trick or Treat 2020: Two Cents Film Club Investigates Tim Burton’s SLEEPY HOLLOW (1999)
Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
The spooky season is here and we’re officially kicking off our annual Trick or Treat series with 1999’s delightfully macabre Sleepy Hollow!
Believe it or not, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp collaborating on a big-budget update of Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” was once seen as a risky gamble for any studio to take up.
Bear in mind: Burton was coming off a string of disappointments and outright flops, capped off by the high-profile cancellation of his Superman reboot after a year of expensive development.
And Johnny Depp had never had a movie hit $100 million domestic, instead headlining either blandly successful programmers or arthouse masterpieces that made absolutely no money.
But the Edward Scissorhands/Ed Wood boys struck fried gold with their third collaboration. Sleepy Hollow originated as a passion project for make-up maestro Kevin Yagher (he created both Chucky and The Cryptkeeper) looking to make his directorial debut with an amped up, gory horror riff on Irving’s venerable old spook story.
Yagher developed the project with Se7en scribe Andrew Kevin Walker, devising a story where this time, the Headless Horseman was an actual… you know… headless horseman, on a murder rampage through the sleepy hollow of Sleepy Hollow. Only upstart big city detective Ichabod Crane with his bizarre new techniques of ‘forensic’ ‘evidence’ stands a chance against besting a decapitation-crazed demon.
Sleepy Hollow eventually became such an expensive commodity that the studio didn’t trust Yagher to deliver. He remained on supervising the gore and creature make-up, while Burton took over as director. He in turn brought in Depp, and the two spun Walker and Yagher’s supernatural procedural into a giddy Gothic bloodbath.
Audiences came out in droves to see heads roll, but Sleepy Hollow remains underdiscussed in the Burton canon. It isn’t one of his early masterpieces that made him an icon for a generation of outsiders, nor is it one of his infuriating future disasters that made said generation question how devoted they should have ever been to the dude.
To kick off this Trick or Treat season, let’s amble through the fog and see just what there is to find in Sleepy Hollow.
Next Week’s Pick
Vincent Price! William Castle! Ghosts! Ghouls! Skeletons! Acid Baths!
What more could you want out of spooky season?
Join us as we pass a night in the original House on Haunted Hill! Available in black & white and color versions on Prime!
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review to twocents(at)cinapse.co anytime before midnight on Thursday!
Our Guests
I’d forgotten what a banger Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow is. While it departs pretty significantly from the source material (which in my youth was very much a strike against it), the film very smartly takes the concept and makes it more cinematic. In fact, it’s perhaps as close as Burton has ever come to making his own Hammer-style horror film — and not just because several actors hail from that era of filmmaking. Much as Hammer transformed Dracula and Frankenstein, so too does Burton adapt “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” into a rollicking horror-adventure along the lines of Night Creatures or Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter.
It has most of the Tim Burton hallmarks: an exaggerated gothic aesthetic, a Danny Elfman score, and plenty of actors from his stock company of players. Plus, because it’s 1999, Johnny Depp hadn’t quite degenerated into a a goofy accented, silly hat wearing caricature of himself! In fact, I kind of love the idea of a detective who thinks he’s in a Poirot story finding himself trapped in a world of gothic horror.
Sleepy Hollow was very much the end of an era for Tim Burton. He has made other good films since (I love me some Big Fish), but from the 2000s on they were few and far between — and no film since has shown the focus and consistency of style and purpose demonstrated here. Plus there are few things spookier than a wild-eyed Christopher Walken with razor-sharp teeth.
Verdict: TREAT (@T_Lawson)
Brendan Agnew (The Norman Nerd):
You gotta love a movie that just can’t stop hitting solid triples.
There are few pairings of Director + Material more obviously ideal than “Tim Burton and a playful Hammer horror take on The Headless Horseman,” and if everyone making Sleepy Hollow had run on autopilot, you’d probably still have something fairly watchable. But everyone here feels like they’re in on the bit and down to play with it (even Christopher Lee for all 90 seconds he’s in this thing), and there’s not really much that genuinely doesn’t work. Every time something like Christina Ricci’s obvious Dark Secret threatens to be boringly predictable, it instead has a canny spin that deftly compliments the way this tale twists the original Washington Irving story.
Also, it’s just chockablock full of Cool Spooky Shit. You got witches and wicked aristocratic conspiracies and ghosts and bugs crawling out of corpses’ necks and a sword fight with a dude with no head and nighttime carriage chases and bleeding trees — my point is, you know what you’re getting. Sleepy Hollow delivers precisely what’s on the box with the just right blend of quirk and confidence and everyone involved at or near the top of their game. It never reaches the artistic or emotional heights of an Ed Wood or Big Fish, but that really doesn’t matter.
Because, if I wasn’t already clear, this movie has a SWORD FIGHT. Against a dude. WITH NO HEAD.
Verdict: TREAT (@BLCAgnew)
Austin Wilden:
Making Sleepy Hollow into a murder mystery is a strange but effective way of getting a feature length film narrative out of Irving Washington’s original short story. Especially since Washington’s writing invites skepticism on the part of the reader about whether there was a real Headless Horseman or if it was a simple prank by Brom Bones to take advantage of Ichabod Crane’s cowardice and superstition. A detail of the story Burton’s movie nods to briefly. Doing a coinflip on Crane’s character to make him the sole skeptic in a story about the explicit presence of the supernatural abandons that part of the original in favor of bright red blood splatters, witchcraft, and satanic bargain driven conspiracies. A monumental shift from the source like that leaves it as far from the source as any adaptation until the TV version that brought Crane and the Horseman into the present day to do battle.
With all that said on the matter of adaptation and the spirit of the source, Sleepy Hollow is the right blast of spooky fun to kick off October. It contains some of Burton’s absolute best visuals in a career defined by them, a few unfortunately aged late-90s CGI shots notwithstanding. An unselfconscious camp horror feature that also has the courtesy of throwing in Christopher Walken to complete the crazy picture.
Verdict: TREAT (@WC_Wit)
The Team
@Brendan Foley:
For several years, I would start every October with a viewing of Sleepy Hollow. It’s just about the perfect Halloween movie: A spooky/silly/gory cocktail of ghosts and witches and demons and all kinds of repressed sexuality.
OK that last one isn’t Halloween specific but still.
Sleepy Hollow finds Burton indulging in all of his favorite fetishes, but with an actually coherent and well-crafted screenplay underlining his flights of Goth fancy. There are themes and richer ideas to be found in Walker’s screenplay that ol’ Timmy Bushy-Hair doesn’t care to dig into, but in this one specific case he was in the right to keep things surface-level.
Sleepy Hollow is just so much damn fun, from the design and execution of the Horseman, to the desaturated color palette mixed with the explosive red of the painterly-applied blood, to the treasure trove of esteemed British character actors lining up to get shish-kebabed by Darth Maul.
Sleepy Hollow left that regular rotation a couple years back, just because I had begun to find it the tiniest bit tiresome after so any viewings. But watching it now, I remember what an utter delight it is, from the first decapitation to that final gruesome kiss.
Verdict: TREAT (@TheTrueBrendanF)
One of Tim Burton’s most entertaining films, Sleepy Hollow is a sad reminder of what could have been: the R-rated horror film is, to great dismay, one of a kind. A stylish, action-filled delight that indulges his gothic sensibilities, keen storytelling, occasional flights of ghoulish whimsy which recall his earlier stop animated sequences (the witch’s popping eyes are such a Burton moment) along with stylized violence and a quirky Johnny Depp performance. Unfortunately he turned a corner here, and while I do like several of his later films, well, they’re just not the same.
I’m thrilled to see our other commenters make note of the film’s Hammer-esque qualities. It’s something I’ve never considered, in part because Sleepy Hollow is so quintessentially American.
It’s been several years since I’ve seen this, and one thing that stands out to me much more now is what a rich supporting cast of wonderful faces we have, filling out the town’s secretive circle of leaders and citizens (as well as cameos and brief opening set in New York City). The casting really is incredible, with Burton reteaming with many favorite collaborators. And let’s not underserve Ray Park (who that same year also appeared as Darth Maul, one of the few great parts of The Phantom Menace), who brings so much character to the movement and combat of the Hessian in his silent, headless form.
Verdict: TREAT (@Austin Vashaw)
Next week’s pick:
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Criterion Review: THE ELEPHANT MAN
David Lynch’s heart-wrenching adaption of the life of Joseph Merrick finally arrives on Blu-ray in a brilliant 4K restoration
The Elephant Man follows the story of John (né Joseph) Merrick (John Hurt), a 21-year-old man suffering from congenital birth deformities that permanently enlarged portions of his skull and skeleton. Initially exhibited as nothing more than a circus freak under the cruel showmanship of Mr. Bytes (Freddie Jones), he is rescued by Royal London Hospital physician Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins), where John is given not just proper medical attention, but a care and dignity that’s evaded him for most of his existence.
Regarded as the sophomore feature that catapulted its director from the arthouse of Eraserhead to mainstream audiences, The Elephant Man has developed the unintentional legacy of being one of David Lynch’s most accessible, audience-friendly films. Nothing could be further from the truth — while The Elephant Man is definitely more straightforward in terms of storytelling, much of Lynch’s power to both confound, horrify, and evoke other visceral reactions from his audience remains on full display here. Set near the turn of the century in Victorian England, huge factories have begun belching black smoke in the sky, coating everyone below with soot; workhouse employees are regularly chewed up by the machines they tend to; and the only respite for the poor, though frequented by the perversely curious upper class, is to gawk and jeer at those in traveling freak shows — for at least they have it worse. It’s a world that treats all of its inhabitants as inhumanely disposable — but what’s more horrific is how even under these conditions, there’s the compulsion to lift oneself up by keeping others downtrodden.
While the film is free of the bizarre babies and radiator women of Eraserhead, to say nothing of Twin Peaks’ Bob or Mulholland Drive’s Man Behind Winkie’s later in Lynch’s career, there’s still monstrous forces at work throughout The Elephant Man. They’re found in everything from a quickly-averted glance, to a shutdown of a freak performance in the name of decency, to a mobbing throng of onlookers eager to get a peek underneath Merrick’s self-imposed one-eyeholed hood. At the same time, though, a deeper understanding of Merrick’s condition offers not just a deeper glimpse of the very human man beneath it — the act of understanding and empathizing with Merrick helps those around him reconnect with their own sense of goodwill. Confronted with Merrick nearly being ejected from the hospital, Treves and the hospital staff manage to engender the compassion of everyone from notable actresses (Anne Bancroft) to her majesty Queen Victoria herself. Throughout, Merrick also finally gets the opportunity to participate in aspects of the world long denied him — he showcases not just a knack and appreciation for conversation, but for art, architecture, and theater.
One of the most remarkable achievements of The Elephant Man is that it never roots itself in one singular perspective, let alone the perspective of the titular character. It opens with Treves’ search for Merrick in a back alley and continues his pursuit of his potential new patient, but then lingers with Merrick in the hospital as the initially cold staff either overcome or sink deeper into their surface repulsion of him. We also stick alongside Merrick’s cruel original caretaker, his street urchin lackey, and the other circus “freaks” who at one point lead Merrick to his own emancipation. Lynch’s roving eye, helmed here by DP great Freddie Francis, remains steadfastly equally empathetic to everyone in the film — moments of compassion are found for them all, while each of them are defined by how much compassion the characters dole out in return. That’s not to say that love and decency are a commodity to be traded like other Victorian wares — rather that kindness is, as always, the most important virtue we can cherish and bestow, and what separates humanity from the horrible among us.
Absent for years in the American market and only available on Blu-ray overseas, The Elephant Man was vibrantly restored by Studiocanal in 2019, and has been given further incredible treatment for home video by The Criterion Collection. Criterion’s package collects all previously-extant Elephant Man-focused special features from Studiocanal’s past releases overseas. New to the set is a newly-recorded excerpt from Lynch’s memoir/film analysis book Room to Dream, presented here as an oral history of The Elephant Man’s production that’s incisively and hilariously told by Lynch and his book’s co-author, Kristine McKenna. Also included are print excerpts from Lynch on Lynch as well as the first widely-printed letter describing Joseph Merrick’s “elephant man” to the British public.
While the film may have a similarly-stacked 4K UHD release in Europe, make no mistake — this is by far the definitive release of The Elephant Man, amassing a king’s ransom of special features that provide a rich history of both the film and its real-life inspiration, while also presenting the film as vividly and viscerally as possible.
Video
Criterion presents The Elephant Man in a 1080/24p HD video transfer, sourced from a new 4K restoration of the original 35mm negative undertaken by StudioCanal in 2019, which was supervised by David Lynch and digital colorist and frequent Lynch collaborator George Koran. English SDH subtitles are provided for the feature film, while special features go unsubtitled. As with Lynch’s other Criterion releases, there are no chapter stops provided for the film.
Freddie Francis’ lush black-and-white cinematography is lovely displayed here — the softer shadows of The Elephant Man’s previous releases now take on a richer, sharper gradient, as evidenced in the film’s opening freak show sequence and the foggy cobblestoned streets of London. Textures and reflections have greater detail — note in particular the alternating sterility and grime of the Royal London Hospital, as well as in the beads of sweat and furrowed brows of the doctors attending Merrick and the extensive makeup work on John Hurt’s Merrick.
A noted error in the StudioCanal restoration, a missing fade-to-black at 1:40:17, is also present on this disc as it was on the 4K UHD released in Europe this year.
Audio
Criterion presents The Elephant Man in a 2-channel stereo track sourced from the film’s original magnetic print master, restored in tandem with the film’s negative. While a 5.1 channel mix was created for the film’s original Blu-ray release abroad, this was a post-conversion undertaken from this original stereo mix. As such, Lynch, his restoration team, and the team at Criterion have chosen to present the mix for the film as closely to its original theatrical presentation as possible.
There’s an equally rich spectrum of sound design throughout the mix — one especially favoring richer bass thrums and the harsh, pitchy hiss of steam. Dialogue is crisp and clear, where previous releases sounded more muddled (especially in Merrick’s initial lines of dialogue).
Special Features
- Room to Dream: A 70-minute audio recording of co-author Kristine McKenna and Lynch reading from their 2018 Lynch hybrid memoir/analysis, focused on the production journey of The Elephant Man — including the unconventional shepherding of Lynch and the film into the Hollywood system by semi-silent partner Mel Brooks; locating strange Victorian props (including the death cast of Joseph Merrick) across England; and fruitful collaborations with John Hurt vs. conflicting ones with Anthony Hopkins. A constant throughout is Lynch’s sincere, headstrong vision — one intimidated yet undaunted by the studio system pushing him forward.
- Archival Interviews with the film’s cast and crew, including 2009 interviews with David Lynch and lead actor John Hurt, a 2018 interview with stills photographer Frank Connor, and a 2019 BFI Q&A with producer Jonathan Sanger.
- David Lynch at the AFI: A 1981 audio recording of a Q&A between Lynch and colleagues at his film school alma mater.
- The Terrible Elephant Man Revealed: A 30-minute archival making-of featurette with much of the film’s cast and crew, including Mel Brooks and makeup supervisor Christopher Tucker.
- Joseph Merrick, The Real Elephant Man: An archival featurette featuring Royal London Hospital Museum archivist Jonathan Evans and a king’s ransom of photographs, letters, and other historical material surrounding the real-life case of Joseph Merrick.
- Mike Figgis and David Lynch: A 20-minute 2006 interview between Lynch and the director of Leaving Las Vegas circa the premiere of Lynch’s last theatrical feature, Inland Empire. Here, Lynch focuses on his process of creativity, his origins in painting and photography, and the patience required to develop ideas to their full potential.
- Clapper Board–John Hurt: A 1980 archival interview with John Hurt by Chris Kelley for UK’s Granada Television to promote the theatrical release of The Elephant Man.
- Skintricks–Christopher Tucker and John Hurt: Excerpts from a 1988 episode of a Dutch television program that features The Elephant Man’s lead actor and makeup designer discussing their approach in creating a functional re-creation of Merrick’s physique, accompanied with their extensive period reference material.
- Promotional Material: A theatrical trailer and 3 radio spots for the film’s U.S. release.
- Some Weird Breeze of the Essence of This Beautiful Soul: An excerpt from Lynch on Lynch, collecting interview pieces from 1993–1996 that feature Lynch’s recollections of making The Elephant Man.
- Some Fitting Place: An 1886 London Times letter by Royal London Hospital Director Francis Calling Carr Gomm (played by Sir John Gielgud in the film), beseeching the public’s assistance in their care of Joseph Merrick. This letter is one of the first, if not the first, widely-distributed accounts of Merrick and his condition.
The Elephant Man will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of The Criterion Collection on Tuesday, September 29th.
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Alejandro Jodorowsky Screen Comparisons — ABKCO vs Anchor Bay
This article contains several comparisons contrasting new ABKCO Blu-ray transfers with prior DVD and Blu-ray editions. The frames aren’t necessarily exact matches, but should give a solid indication of the visual differences.
Last week, ABKCO Films and Arrow Video released their deluxe Alejandro Jodorowsky Blu-ray set spanning four Blu-rays and two audio CDs, giving fans a definitive edition of these films mastered from new 4K transfers. Being a big Jodorowsky fan myself, I thought why not break down every US based edition and compare them, because naturally that’s what an obsessive media collector like myself would do. So here’s my breakdown spanning 2007’s Anchor Bay release, the 2014 Anchor Bay Blu-rays and the most recent offering from ABKCO Films set with new transfers approved by the director himself.
After culling through these sets, its easy to see ABKCO and Arrow have definitely delivered on their promise of a definitive edition of these films. While Fando Y Liz is the most dramatic of the upgrades here on the set, since all that existed previously was a badly framed DVD, both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have definitely been improved upon as well, with a more natural color palette and less DNR than the previous releases.
But don’t simply take my word for it, check out the screenshots below.
Fando Y Liz — Comparisons
Source: Anchor Bay DVD 2007 
Source: ABKCO Blu-ray 2020 
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Source: ABKCO Blu-ray 2020 El Topo— Comparisons
Source: Anchor Bay DVD 2007 
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Source: ABKCO Blu-ray 1:33:1 aspect ratio 2020 
Source: ABKCO Blu-ray 1:85:1 aspect ratio 2020 
Source: Anchor Bay DVD 2007 
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Source: ABKCO Blu-ray 1:33:1 aspect ratio 2020 
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Source: Anchor Bay DVD 2007 
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Source: ABKCO Blu-ray 1:33:1 aspect ratio 2020 
Source: ABKCO Blu-ray 1:85:1 aspect ratio 2020 
Source: Anchor Bay DVD 2007 
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Source: ABKCO Blu-ray 1:33:1 aspect ratio 2020 
Source: ABKCO Blu-ray 1:85:1 aspect ratio 2020 
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Source: ABKCO Blu-ray 1:85:1 aspect ratio 2020 The Holy Mountain — Comparisons
Source: Anchor Bay DVD 2007 
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Source: ABKCO Blu-ray 2020 
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Source: ABKCO Blu-ray 2020 
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Source: ABKCO Blu-ray 2020
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Unboxing/Comparisons the Alejandro Jodorowsky 4K Restoration Blu-ray Box Set — VIDEO
Last week saw the release of the definitive collection of the early works of the surreal cinematic master Alejandro Jodorowsky, thanks to a new Blu-ray box set mastered in 4K from the original negatives. Abkco Films was kind enough to send over a copy over for me to review and here are my first impressions, digging into this beautiful set after going through some of the discs for my comparison post.
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THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME: An Epic of Midwestern Misery That Comes Full Circle
Antonio Campos’ saga of interconnected tragedy is a satisfying, exhausting reckoning of all-American ambition
Beginning in the years just after World War II with haunted veteran Willard (Bill Skarsgard) and continuing along through the Vietnam War with his son Arvin (Tom Holland), The Devil All The Time casts a wandering eye on the souls that crisscross the backroads between Cold Creek, West Virginia and Knockemstiff, Ohio. There’s also a gospel preacher by way of a simpering Elvis (Robert Pattinson), a pair of cuckolding shutterbug serial killers (Jason Clarke and Riley Keough) who pick off hitchhiking “models,” and a small town cop ambitious to become his town’s next Sheriff by any means necessary (Sebastian Stan). While blood and friendly ties unite a handful of them, most of these characters will remain blissfully unaware of the festering connections between them until the few moments before they meet their maker.
There’s a justified jadedness in how most cinema’s treated American nostalgia. Films like Night of the Hunter, Blue Velvet, The Virgin Suicides, any book of Stephen King’s you can pull off the shelf, to the currently-airing Lovecraft Country — all encourage a voyeuristic glimpse at the vices and traumas that linger behind the veil of American wholesomeness. With a collective blind trust in our families, the law, religion, and other institutions we trust to keep our shaky world together that progressively eroded in the years since World War II and especially after Vietnam, there’s much to dismantle and critique in how such picturesque beauty occluded the darker parts of human nature. While most films in this area take umbrage at more nebulous time periods in this era, it’s particularly interesting how The Devil All the Time situates itself in between the one of the most cinematically idealized Wars and a conflict whose mass bloodshed and ideological failures led to a noted disillusionment towards American exceptionalism. Here, amidst a mess of conflicted, gruesome characters hiding behind masks of virtue, Antonio Campos illustrates a complex, jaded ethos that tries to rectify personal ambitions with cosmic insignificance.
In the wake of one of The Devil All the Time’s numerous senseless tragedies, career-driven Sheriff tries to console a grieving boy that, well, “some people are just born to be buried.” It’s a heartless, impersonal ethos — but one that many of the film’s characters irresistibly take to heart. Skarsgard’s Willard sacrifices Arvin’s dog in a doomed attempt to trade its life for his dying wife’s; Pattinson’s Preacher Teagardin creates a revolving door of abuse victims among his congregation, protected by his patriarchal power over the community like a wolf preaching to sheep; Stan’s authority as a Sheriff only goes as far as his own personal business interests, victims be damned; and, in acts that lead the film’s narrator to brand him a “sick fuck,” Clarke’s Carl captures his victims’ last moments in snapshots to get closer to God — as if this act of simultaneous creation and destruction may imbue him with the same sense of omniscient power. Most, if not all of the characters of The Devil All the Time use each other to move onto greater things that they believe are owed them. One by one, though, these characters meet their own undoing — often by each others’ hands in a fatalistic game of dominoes masquerading as coincidence. There’s always a sense of a greater, more nihilistic power at work, reveling in the characters’ blindness to the ties that bind them — by effect, the American dream of individual success, power, and self-worth becomes nothing more than a ritualized sense of denial.
The cast sells this spectrum between delusion, dour acceptance, and rebellious rage well — of particular note are Pattinson’s skin-crawling preacher, Eliza Scanlen’s unabashedly pious Lenora as his victim, Holland’s vengeful, rebellious Arvin, Bill Skarsgard’s wounded, ferocious Willard, and Harry Melling’s murderously self-deluded messiah figure. All five sincerely devote themselves to the fickle world they inhabit, either trying to somehow coax the world to bend to their will, to understand its meaningless machinations, or survive whatever curveballs threaten to knock them off their feet. All the players, though, imbue their roles with a consistent sense of ambitious yet self-defeating naivety, eager to see more of the world that exists beyond their reach but just as eager to engage in self-destructive acts that keep them rooted firmly in place. While some stories may feel more imbalanced than others, Campos bobs and weaves between their story to keep this sense of potentially monotonous cosmic inevitability threaded with a wonderful amount of suspense and unpredictability, not to mention a wickedly engaging lurid pulpiness that others might discard in favor of more aims fitting of other prestige ensemble dramas.
Where The Devil All the Time falters most, though, is in the world these characters inhabit. While production designer Craig Lathrop’s meticulously detailed sets and Lol Crowley’s love of both magic-hour and grimy overcast cinematography both deserve commendation, one can’t help but feel that the worlds of Coal Creek, Meade, and Knockemstiff exist in more of an Americana amalgamation of pop culture influences than period America proper. Campos creates such a microscopic view of Midwestern Gothic whose actions and consequences feel far too, well, deliberately isolated from real-world consequences. Despite short years of collecting fourteen noted victims in a seemingly clustered area, Clarke and Keough’s serial killers don’t seem to rise to expected infamy — even as Keough anonymously tips off authorities where to find their bodies. And despite the variation of racial and class strata that existed within West Virginia and Ohio through the 1960s, the three cities of The Devil All the Time feel like one homogenous entity, as if these locations were separated more out of storytelling necessity rather than out of significant thematic concern — with all taking on the generic identity of crumbling, White Anytown, USA. In differentiating itself from similar jaded films like the ones described above, this lack of defining identity seriously kneecaps Campos’ film from making as lasting of an emotional impact as it so clearly labors to do. It’s hard to give a damn about a sense of national generational trauma when it’s too universal and generic to establish a deep emotional specificity.
Which, thankfully, is where Campos’ adaptation of Donald Ray Pollock’s novel picks up most of the slack. While the characters’ world may feel disconnected from the world at large, Campos and his brother Paulo Campos make their situations feel like an increasingly closing circle that, by the end, swallows up all but one of them whole. Throughout, each of them faces situations that create an engaging dialogue with the audience about whether things like retribution or revenge are only satisfying or meaningful if their full value is understood by other people. In a world that feels so hell-bent on crushing them under its wheel, what does it mean to finally get the karmic closure or comeuppance that they strive for?
The answers, and their relative validity, varies for each of The Devil All the Time’s wicked souls — but the arduous and rewarding impact of the journey towards them is one that cannot be denied.
The Devil All the Time is now available to stream on Netflix.
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ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY
“History is never a straight line. It’s always a fight.” — Mike Waldman, Brennan Center for Justice
Stacey Abrams in ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY. All In: The Fight for Democracy comes out in this crucial moment of our nation’s history: a pandemic rages, civil rights are forefront in the minds of most Americans, and a majority of us are concerned about the damage done to the post office and how that might affect mail-in voting. If there’s a perfect time for a documentary about the continuous struggle for voting rights in America (which also weaves in Stacey Abrams’ political journey), it’s most likely now.
Directors Lisa Cortes (The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion) and Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?) assemble expert scholars, politicians, lawyers, and think-tank talking heads to provide a history of voter suppression and the struggle for voting rights in the U.S. The storytelling structure is familiar: news clips and photos — sometimes even animation — illustrate the words by the experts as they go through eras of progress and disenfranchisement for women and people of color in America.
An appearance by the parents of Stacey Abrams brings some warmth to the film, even as they recall her shoddy treatment by a former Georgia governor’s security guard. There isn’t as much time spent on Stacey Abrams as I hoped; her gubernatorial campaign is primarily used as an example of how voter suppression can affect election results.
The documentary is ultimately geared towards a viewer new to the issue of voting rights. Watching as a film critic who tries to stay on top of news of voter suppression and intimidation, there isn’t much new information here. Indeed, I marveled at the decision to give no mention to Kris Kobach, besides a quick clip of him an hour deep into the film. Leaving no time to what he tried to pull in Kansas is certainly a choice. Still, to one less familiar with America’s history — past and more recent — of voter suppression, All In is likely to be quite informative.
It is moving to hear audio of the recently deceased Rev. C. T. Vivian protesting for voting rights in Selma, aggravating to learn about the late Supreme Court Chief Justice Rehnquist’s voter intimidation work in Arizona, and chilling to hear the tragic story of voter Maceo Snipes as told by scholar Carol Anderson. But other storytelling choices by the filmmakers make the documentary feel like something we’ve seen before.
Even if All In won’t be the most creative or original documentary released this year, I’m glad it’s out there. Hopefully it inspires more Americans to pay attention to the importance of voting rights for all. Plus, it means we get a new Janelle Monae song (see the video below) which plays over the closing credits.
All In: The Fight for Democracy is available to stream on Amazon Prime starting Sept. 18.
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Hail to the King: Two Cents Remembers Chadwick Boseman with BLACK PANTHER
Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick:
Like the rest of the world, we at Cinapse are still reeling from the shocking loss of the great Chadwick Boseman to cancer last week.
Not only was Boseman an incredibly gifted actor and screen icon, by all accounts he was a brilliant, thoughtful artist and a genuinely kind and decent man. Our world is poorer with him gone.
Boseman rose to prominence with bravura performances of iconic black figures, including Jackie Robinson in 42 and James Brown in Get On Up. Yet it was only in the last few years that Boseman became a fully-minted movie star, thanks to his world-changing, culture-redefining work as King T’Challa, the Black Panther.
Black Panther was originally created in 1966 by Jack Kirby (Kirby had grown tired of the stereotypical black characters in comics and created the regal T’Challa to break from that mold) and some movie version of the character has been in some form of development since the early ’90s, when Wesley Snipes actively sought to headline a Black Panther film with himself in the title role.
When Marvel Studios kicked off, Black Panther was one of the characters that producer Kevin Feige cited as being a priority. But it was producer Nate Moore who fought behind the scenes to bring T’Challa to the live-action fold. It was Moore who suggested that Black Panther be introduced in Captain America: Civil War, immediately establishing T’Challa as a character on equal footing with the rest of the Avengers (Black Panther’s role was also greatly expanded when studio shenanigans put a damper on Marvel’s hopes to include Spider-Man in the conflict).
Boseman was the first and only choice for the role. Feige was so assured of the pick, Boseman didn’t even have to audition. Thanks to his performance, King T’Challa was a game-changing cinematic icon from the moment he was introduced, Boseman fitting in right alongside the other larger-than-life stars, but with a regal bearing utterly distinct from any other character.
And when the time came for Black Panther to have his own movie, Boseman was heavily involved in defining not only his own character but the entire movie, including the Afro-futuristic nation of Wakanda. In his beautiful tribute to his departed star, writer/director Ryan Coogler credits Boseman with being the creative mind behind many of the most distinctive details of Wakanda, not to mention the incredible final line uttered by Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger (you know the one).
Of Boseman’s untimely passing, what can be said except that it’s not fucking fair. It’s not fair that someone who meant so much to so many should leave us so soon. It’s not fair that our culture has been robbed of decades of brilliant art that he could have gone to make. And it’s not fucking fair at all that someone who by all accounts was a kind, beautiful human should pass away so young.
But we’ll work through this grief by celebrating that art that does remain to us. Chadwick Boseman didn’t get enough time on this earth, but with that time he created a legacy that will last for generations, for as long as people watch movies.
So here is Black Panther.
Next Week’s Pick:
After a number of delays and false-starts, Tenet is finally here. Like all Chris Nolan movies, Tenet has been heavily hyped while being kept totally under wraps. We’re not sure when we’ll be seeing it, and we definitely won’t be going to a theater to do so, but soon all its secrets will be spelled out.
Let’s mark the occasion with the last completely original Nolan sci-fi epic: Inception. Inception is currently available on Amazon Prime.
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review to twocents(at)cinapse.co anytime before midnight on Thursday!
Our Guests
Black Panther is a great movie that has a lot on its mind, including the scars of colonialism. When I first saw the film, I was impressed with how Coogler balanced its world building, a lovable cast of characters and a mostly tight focus.
But now, in the shadow of Chadwick Boseman’s passing, it takes on a slightly different angle. Now I can’t see how this movie works without Boseman. His steady, regal presence is the grounding mechanism for the entire picture. He is the foundation for this beautiful building, and none of it works without him.
The characters work so well because they have Boseman to work across. Wakanda feels real because Boseman is able to portray the weight of ruling it, stepping into T’Chaka’s shoes. One of the scenes that showcases it is when Killmonger is brought before the Wakandan council.
All the other characters are throwing out barbs and making declarations or protest or support, and Boseman’s steady glare brings you back. The moment is fraught, but you have no doubt T’Challa will do the right thing. What you don’t know is if his actions will work, and that’s the trouble or portraying a moral force. Boseman nails it. (@hsumra)
Brendan Agnew (The Norman Nerd):
When it was announced that Ryan “Creed” Coogler was going to be helming Black Panther, I was confident he’d deliver a knockout, but it was the first time we saw Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa appeared on-screen in Captain America: Civil War that I knew we were in for something truly special. Boseman walked into frame with Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and Peter Parker and walked away with damn near the whole movie. And because he got an introductory/origin arc in that movie, it meant his solo film could practically be its own sequel with the richer, more personal, and status quo-altering narrative.
And no one really needs me to tell them how well Coogler, Boseman, and company pulled that off.
I include Boseman so prominently because, from both the commitment in his performance (even before we knew the personal cost he was paying) and his heavy collaboration and input on the shape of the film (from his choice of T’Challa’s accent to suggesting Killmonger’s iconic final line), it’s clear that he was building a living monument to the Black Panther as a character and what he and Wakanda mean. And given how breathtaking I found the “Lord of the Rings meets Batman meets James Bond” world that this film brings so vividly to life, I can only imagine what it meant to people who *haven’t* seen themselves represented as heroes on-screen their entire lives.
But more than that, Black Panther kicks serious ass! There are plenty of buried winks to other MCU movies, but this is a fully self-contained sci-fi/fantasy drama with one of the best antagonists in the genre. The two intervening years of several (quite enjoyable) superhero movies from both the big houses (including another bone fide masterpiece) since Black Panther dropped have done nothing to make this feel less singular, defining, or dramatically satisfying.
I won’t speculate on what was going through Chadwick Boseman’s mind while making this movie, but if his intention was to make as indelible a mark and as big a positive effect as possible with this movie on the off-chance that it was going to be his only shot? Simply saying that he succeeded feels like an understatement. (@BLCAgnew)
Austin Wilden:
Black Panther works as an amazing standalone superhero movie within the MCU and a movie that shows how the movies within it can benefit from past installments. One of my favorite acting moments from Boseman in this movie subtly builds on one of T’Challa’s establishing lines from Captain America: Civil War. When he’s processing the sudden death of his father and give a beautiful description of the Wakandan beliefs about the afterlife, only to end on denying any personal belief in it and committing to his quest for revenge. Emerging out of the emotional reunion with his father in the spiritual plane with the joyous declaration “He was there” captures the through line for the character between movies so succinctly and beautifully.
That moment further sets up how T’Challa’s idea of his father is permanently by the revelations his conflict with Killmonger brings with it. Culminating in Boseman’s best moment in any of his appearances as T’Challa. Once again talking to his father in the fields of the, confronting his ancestors and their isolationism with the line “All of you were wrong” and finally knowing what kind of king he needs to be. (@WC_Wit)
The Team
Black James Bond.
That’s the role that Marvel envisioned Black Panther would play within their expansive cinematic universe. That was the pitch for the character when Ryan Coogler came on board.
Instead Coogler delivered a sci-fi/fantasy epic every bit as densely imagined and immersive as Lord of the Rings or Star Wars but utterly unique from any other fantasy/comic book world brought to life before. That Coogler also snuck in a 20-minute section that IS a perfectly-executed Bond movie in miniature, well, that’s just showing off.
It was easy at the time of Black Panther’s release to appreciate the work Boseman was putting in holding down the center of the film while being more wowed by the feral intensity of Michael B. Jordan, or the scene-stealing presence of Letitia Wright and Winston Duke. Or just to marvel (natch) at how Forest Whitaker never fails to be the weirdest thing in any movie, regardless of how weird the movie itself is.
But in the event of Boseman’s passing, it’s more clear than ever how perfectly he is threading impossible needles with this performance. Delivering an immaculate lead performance in a movie this massive is always a challenge, but to do with a role and film that was so hugely important, that takes a level of talent and focus that seems downright inhuman. And that Boseman did it so perfectly while dealing with his illness…the mind staggers and the heart breaks.
Black Panther remains a once-in-a-lifetime event. What it did, what is inspired, is the kind of thing that reminds you that movies and art really can change the world. Chadwick Boseman did that. All hail. (@TheTrueBrendanF)
2020 is the year that keeps hammering away, and we’re all still reeling from the tremendous, utterly heartbreaking loss of Chadwick Boseman. I guess it’s in part because he passed so young, but it’s also because his powerful embodiment of challenging and heroic roles gave us such hope and joy. And suddenly learning of his secret illness — and how it must have impacted his life these past few years — was such a shock and gave us even greater awe of the tremendous body of work he produced with the time he was given.
Black Panther solidified the character as Boseman’s most iconic role, and considering that he played Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, and James Brown, that statement says a hell of a lot.
Wakanda is a fictional nation, but that beautiful ambiguity allows it to stand in for its continent as a whole. The film leans hard into this, with its varied tribes, cultures, and incredible costumes on display, offering powerful representation and a spiritual motherland to any person of African origin, even whose bloodline can’t trace back to a particular country. It gives me chills to think about, and it’s both wonderful and deeply saddening to learn the Boseman was so integral to the development of this ideal. Godspeed.
“X”
Next week’s pick:
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MULAN is a Sweeping Wushu Epic
The best Disney live-action remakes tend to be the ones where the director took on the gig, because they legitimately had something to say, rather than simply trying to cash a check. I also think taking on one of these properties should have a bit more gravity with it than it does, since these aren’t simply “kid’s cartoons”, over time they have evolved into our modern day fairy tales, that we then in turn pass on to our kids. As far as I’m concerned, deciding to ground one of these stories in reality begs the director to earn it with something more than another song or hyper realistic CGI animals.It was with this mindset I sat down to view Disney’s latest live action update for Mulan (1998), which as time has passed has only gotten more problematic.
Instead of the Huns here, we have the more historically accurate Rourins, who are ambushing outposts along the Silk Road, interrupting trade and slowly working their way in toward the Imperial City. Led by Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee) who is essentially the Shan Yu of this incarnation, he hopes to avenge his father, who died at the hands of the Emperor (Jet Li) and take control of China. Like Shan Yu, Bori Khan also has a hawk, but here the creature also just happens to be a shapeshifting sorceress Xian Lang (Gong Li). Now, here is where these two stories diverge the most — see Xian Lang is able to do this because she has mastered her Chi ability. This is based on a real Chinese belief, and it’s something that has appeared in many martial arts films and anime, but here it’s used kind of like “The Force”. But only men are allowed to hone and use Chi abilities in China, and this also just happens to be the source of Mulan’s power.
Mulan here isn’t relegated to simply being a late bloomer, or can’t find a husband, she has this innate ability to be a great warrior, and when the emperor calls, she sees it as her chance to use that gift. Now because of that nuance the film is less about Khan vs. the Emperor, I mean it is, but the real thread here at the heart of this film is the story of Mulan vs. the Sorceress. On one side you have Lang who is vilified by her own people as a witch for her gender and her abilities, and on the other side you have Mulan who is almost equally as powerful, but has to hide her gender to use her abilities to defend her family. The film wisely doesn’t make this about Mulan trying to find a husband, although there are some sparks between her and Honghui (Yoson An), it’s more about these two women trying to find their place in a man’s world.
The cinematography here is sweeping, lush, and they even found a way to work in the color palette from the original animated classic into various costumes and settings. The performances are equally nuanced and the actors do a fantastic job at adding a new dimension to their 2D counterparts. Yifei Liu as Mulan is tasked with much more subtlety and turmoil here in her performance as her character is seemingly at war with everything internally and externally. Liu and Gong Li really are the anchors to this piece and the dynamic between the two on screen is definitely worth it. The only negative I could see, would be the compromise to do the film in English, rather than Cantonese. While this would have elevated the performances even further, since it most of the cast would be acting in the native tongue, I see this as the only necessary evil and compromise made by director Niki Caro.
Caro goes full arthouse, Wushu epic here and it’s a wonderful thing to behold. The film also lets you know right away it’s going to lean hard into the action. While it’s solidly executed, the edges here have been obviously dulled a bit to ensure that all important PG-13 rating. You don’t get the sounds of shattered bones, or blood flying from swordplay, but it’s still very evident this well choreographed action has very real consequences. I couldn’t imagine this was a popular choice with Disney, because Mulan does kill people. I think the film impressed me so much because it consistently chooses the more complex route both for its narrative and characters. This would also explain the difficulty the house of Mouse is having trying to market this and its decision to drop it on Disney+.
Mulan is easily one of their best Disney live action updates. The film is uncompromising, and its story of a woman trapped in a world dominated by men is one that is sadly as relevant as ever. Caro, has delivered the near impossible here turning in a film that would work just as well on Disney+ as it would in your local arthouse theater. Its something that may be hard to believe, but the film has a maturity that will no doubt challenge viewers who are just hoping for a cute talking sidekick and some fun songs to sing along to. Instead they are going to get an action filled spectacle that is hopefully going to inspire those same girls who possible foster some of the same doubts in themselves.
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SHERLOCK HOLMES and A GAME OF SHADOWS Are Afoot on UHD
The pair of mystery-action films directed by Guy Ritchie make their way to Ultra HD Blu-ray
Screen images in this article are illustrative only and not representative of 4K presentation.
This week sees the release of 2009’s Sherlock Holmes and its 2011 sequel A Game of Shadows on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.
The films were part of a unique revival of literature’s greatest detective, arriving alongside two contemporary television adaptations: BBC’s immensely popular Sherlock series made stars of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in 2010, while the US-set Elementary closely followed in 2012, treading new ground with a gender-flipped Dr. Watson as portrayed by Lucy Liu.
In the larger scope of Holmes lore and adaptations, Warner’s pair of films, directed by gangster-action maven Guy Ritchie, are much more modern in style and tone (furiously choreographed and action-packed) than the traditional depictions created over the last century. But thanks to the contemporary settings of the concurrent television adaptations, the Victorian-set films became by comparison the most traditional of these modern takes.
Brilliantly cast and scripted, and full of action and laughs, both films are a triumph even among the storied annals of Holmes adaptations, and fans eagerly await the long-delayed third entry in the franchise.
Sherlock Homes (2009)
Aside from stylistic choices, this new take on the Sherlock Holmes mythos makes a couple key decisions which helped to differentiate it from the many other adaptations we’ve seen before: setting an advanced timeline as a seasoned Holmes and Watson have most of their adventures behind them, and casting the duo very differently from their depictions in previous adaptations.
The unusual casting of Holmes and Watson in particular is certainly a major element to these films’ success. Quippy American Robert Downey, Jr. is not at all the sort of actor most fans would ever consider to assume the role of Holmes, but his (surprisingly well accented) take on the character ably accentuates the character’s more eccentric and misanthropic characteristics. Meanwhile, his sidekick Dr. John Watson has generally been portrayed on screen as the beta to Holmes’s alpha: often portly, or even nebbish or bumbling. Jude Law’s version of the character is none of those, but lean, dashing, and athletic (as in his literary descriptions), and a hipper foil for a more erratic Holmes. Their banterous and sometimes tempestuous relationship remains rooted in affection and mutual respect, and is certainly one of the film’s most enjoyable aspects.
Without adapting a particular tale, the film’s original story still addresses one of Holmes canon’s most interesting themes: the application of science against superstition. The adversary of this tale, Lord Blackwood, is an occult figure who leads a secret society in murderous rites of purported black magic, even rising from the grave after being arrested and executed, to continue his killing spree. Holmes doesn’t buy it, instead trying to deduce the assumed trickery behind Blackwood’s unholy miracles — to the film’s credit, it’s actually rather spooky, and there’s a genuine mystery to whether the supernatural elements are legitimate or a clever ruse.
Joining our detectives in the tale is Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) in a greatly expanded role from her literary iteration, serving a particularly interesting crux as both friend and foe — an old companion and love interest to Holmes who still maintains her inextricable criminal ties, employed by the bad guys. Her character represents the biggest deviation from the Doyle’s model of Holmes (who is uninterested in romance), but a worthwhile one — not only is she a complex and interesting character of her own, she also adds one of the most compelling folds to Holmes’ layered personality.
Sherlock Homes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
For their sequel, the filmmakers behind the franchise went bigger but also closer to the source with a loose adaptation of The Final Problem, one of the most important tales in Holmes’ literary canon. The tale is notable for several elements which make it a fan favorite: the emergence of arch-nemesis Moriarty, an appearance by Sherlock’s even smarter but indolent brother Mycroft, and… the demise of one Sherlock Holmes.
Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris) is referenced in the first film as a shadowy background threat pulling all the strings, but the secret criminal mastermind comes to the forefront for the sequel. Harris performs the role splendidly, giving Moriarty both the outward pleasantness and unmistakable menacing threat that make him so covertly dangerous: an upstanding community leader who also happens to be the secret boss behind London’s criminal underground — not to mention Sherlock’s equal in intelligence and cunning. Throughout his tales, Sherlock often muses that in a different life he would have made an excellent criminal — Moriarty is the realization of that concept.
The sequel finds a retired and newlywed Watson dragged back into Holmes’ schemes when he and his wife are targeted for assassination on their honeymoon. The reunited detectives trek across Europe to prevent a world war catalyzed by the efforts of Moriarty. The professor has devoted his efforts to the manufacture of artillery, and having created the supply, now seeks to ignite the demand by tricking the nations of Europe into attacking each other. Joining them are new allies: the mysterious Simza Heron (Noomi Rapace), who has inside knowledge critical to their mission, and Sherlock’s lazy but brilliant older brother Mycroft (Stephen Fry), who dislikes detective work despite his natural talent for it.
Without the supernatural bent of the prior film, A Game of Shadows plays more straightforwardly as a straight-up spectacle of action, espionage, and intrigue, and faithfully adapts to the screen much of what makes The Final Problem one of the best Holmes tales — including its surprising finale.
The Package
Both films arrive on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray in new combo packs which include Blu-ray discs and digital Movies Anywhere code. My copies came with metallic slipcovers.
The films look spectacular in these new editions, though in fairness they’ve always looked pretty stunning on Blu-ray as well. Of particular note are the “Holmesavision” sequences — crisply detailed, stylized slow-motion sequences which are a series trademark, seen whenever Holmes strategically maps out his physical attacks several moves in advance, or in action sequences such as a giant cannon firing massively powerful artillery through a forest, disintegrating trees left and right.
Visually, the films often employ desaturated or specifically tuned color palettes designed to suggest a vintage appearance or the drabness of London, so HDR is less of a factor here than on more colorful films. But being what they are by design, the colors are represented accurately.
The 4K discs are movie only, while the Blu-rays are identical in content to prior versions, retaining the full set of Special Features (and outdated ads).
Special Features and Extras — Sherlock Holmes (on Blu-ray disc)
- Maximum Movie Mode
- Focus Points (31:17)
Drawbridges and Doilies: Designing a Late Victorian London (5:00)
Not A Deerstalker Cap in Sight (4:15)
Ba-ritsu: A Tutorial (3:58)
Elementary English: Perfecting Sherlock’s Accent (4:04)
The One That Got Away (3:44)
Powers of Observation and Deduction (4:01)
The Sherlockians (3:03)
Future Past (3:08) - Sherlock Holmes: Reinvented (14:06)
Special Features and Extras — A Game of Shadows (on Blu-ray disc)
- Maximum Movie Mode: Inside the Mind of Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr
- Focus Points
Holmesavision on Steroids (4:02)
Moriarty’s Master Plan Unleashed (7:09)
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson : A Perfect Chemistry (5:18)
Meet Mycroft Holmes (5:30)
Sherlock Holmes: Under the Gypsy Spell (4:02)
Guy Ritchie’s Well-Oiled Machine (3:04)
Holmes Without Borders (5:51) - Movie App (mobile app required)
A/V Out.
Get it at Amazon:
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A Game of Shadows — https://amzn.to/3gQRYozAll 16:9 screen images in this review are for illustrative purposes only and not representative of 4K or Blu-ray editions. All package photography was taken by the reviewer.
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Spinema Issue 46: EMMA Review and Unboxing — VIDEO
Lend an ear to SPINEMA: a column exploring all movie music, music related to movies, and movies related to music. Be they film scores on vinyl, documentaries on legendary musicians, or albums of original songs by horror directors, all shall be reviewed here. Batten down your headphones, because shit’s about to sound cinematic.
Last month, Mondo released a lush special edition soundtrack to what is thus far my favorite film of 2020, Autumn de Wilde’s Emma. Isobel Waller-Bridge and David Schweitzer’s score exhibits a classical style, but with a fresh and contemporary feel.
You can check out my full review and unboxing in the video below:
