Female Film Critics 24/375
Sally Hawkins is one of the finest and most compelling talents currently gracing our screens. And, as demonstrated in Maudie and now Eternal Beauty as well, she’s one of the most quietly, touchingly expressive performers that audiences presently have the pleasure of watching — especially when it comes to characters who aren’t being afforded a voice, a path or their own sense of agency by the world around them.
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Sally Hawkins is a treasure. Her presence alone elevates any movie she’s in, giving audiences a reason to stay riveted even when the story doesn’t quite live up to her performance. Eternal Beauty, written and directed by Craig Roberts, is a perfect example. Hawkins stars as Jane, suffering from depression and schizophrenia after being jilted at the altar years ago and due to abuse by her mother. Hawkins brings such compassion to her flawed character. And because Roberts brings her to his flawed movie, it is powerful to watch. Hawkins is truly, as Jane’s therapist would say, “in her oils.”
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Its title is a statement of uncertainty, so it should come as no surprise that much is far from firm within I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Charlie Kaufman’s latest feature. Adapting the novel of the same name by Iain Reid, I’m Thing of Ending Things makes good on its moniker by letting its audience into the protagonist’s head — though not as literally as Being John Malkovich, nor as creatively as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
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Prepare to dive down a rabbit hole of memory and joyful exploration of disconnected sequences. Figuring out how the pieces fit is a pointless endeavor. The only way to weave happily through this two and a quarter hour fantasy is to surrender to the tantalizing, playful, disjointed interactions and embrace the joy of letting go of reason and judgment.
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Like many of Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan’s psychological dramas, Guest of Honour focuses on such themes as guilt, repentance and redemption, this time filtered through the sins of a father — and his daughter. Yet as this slice-and-dice script bounces around in time and tone, it sets up thematic revelations that, upon arrival, seem more arbitrary than artful.
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