Dark Comedy Binges: Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Bodkin

Yes, I watched even more TV last month, so if you're already done with my last slew of recommendations, I'm back with two more twisty and funny shows for you to binge. Ready, set, find your remote!

Mr. & Mrs. Smith: What an absolute delight. This show is inspired by the fairly insipid action spy comedy from 2005, so I figured it would be a diverting bit of fluff. But given that it stars Donald Glover, who co-created the show with Francesca Sloane (a former writer on the weird and wonderful Atlanta, who serves as the showrunner here), I should have known better. 

Glover and Maya Erskine star as the titular couple. They both separately interviewed with a shadowy organization to be secret agents, and were then told they would be living undercover with each other as a married couple, with the aliases of John and Jane Smith. They move into an insanely impressive brownstone in New York City (they even have a plunge pool - what largesse!) and start getting instructions from their mysterious overlords. Each of the eight episodes feature different missions that could be as simple as intercepting a package, or going to Italy to protect an asset from violent gunmen hellbent on killing them all. The action sequences are always thrilling and inspired, and the locales get increasingly more elaborate and beautiful. But what is more exciting than each mission of the week, is the overarching story of this couple as they navigate their intense relationship.

At the beginning, John and Jane want to keep it strictly professional. Well, that doesn't last very long - in their line of work, it's a bit hard to maintain boundaries. What follows is a deliriously funny but also very astutely observed relationship as the two get to know each other and develop a delicious rapport. Erskine and Glover are such incredible actors, and this show takes full advantage of their acting range and prowess. The scripts also feel so true to life, with the two of them having meandering conversations, making each other laugh, and falling in love over such seemingly simple nonsense. Of course, they also have major problems, and one of the show's highlights is Episode 6, when John and Jane go to couples counselling and have very convoluted conversations with a therapist where they can't reveal what they do for a living.

This show is effortlessly engaging and I desperately hope there will be a second season. But if there isn't, it's an absolutely perfect single season that you must devour immediately. It contains a multitude of genres and human emotions and will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. It also features a brilliant supporting cast, with famous names popping in to just do one episode before they are either helped or killed by the Smiths. So are you not intrigued? Start bingeing!

Bodkin: Created by Jez Scharf, this is a dark and funny mystery about a cold case in a beautiful Irish town named Bodkin that turns out to maybe not be so cold. Will Forte stars as Gilbert Power, an American podcaster who desperately needs a new hit and has decided that this trip to Bodkin and investigating the mysterious disappearance of three people during the Samhain festival. As far as he is concerned, he is less interested in solving this case than delving into the local characters and collecting some kitschy ambiance for his listeners. 

Gilbert is assisted by Emma Sizergh (Robyn Cara), a young British journalist who is eager to learn more and further her own career. Unfortunately, he is also accompanied by Dubheasa "Dove" Maloney (Siobhan Cullen), an Irish investigative journalist who is not thrilled about helping this clueless man but has reasons she needs to leave London for a bit. She is supremely uninterested in making a fluffy podcast, and instead, starts to dig up dirt on the inhabitants of Bodkin. This means things quickly start to take a dark and murderous turn.

If you're a fan of true crime podcasts and British comedy, this show offers up a neat little satire with an actual mystery to boot. I will confess, the plot was entirely too convoluted for me, featuring a whole mess of characters and tangled motives and alibis that I'm not sure I fully reconciled by the end. There are also a lot of nuns, which may or may not be a selling point. But this show is only a seven-episode commitment and features stunning Irish scenery with many fun accents. Sometimes, all you want is to lie back with a show where a bunch of sweary and grumpy townspeople are ganging up on the American, and this show delivers that in spades. And for some reason, the Obamas are executive producers on this show, so you might as well give it a shot!

May Movies Part 2: Girls State, I Saw the TV Glow, Furiosa, Babes

I spent a lot of time catching up on returning TV shows in May (yes, I am all caught up on Bridgerton, thank you very much), so my movie watching was very erratic. So settle in, I've got a real hodgepodge of reviews for you today!

Girls State: Dust off your Apple TV+ subscription because this documentary is absolutely worth it. I watched its predecessor, Boys State, in 2020, and re-reading my review of it, I'm struck by how one of my criticisms involved the boys talking about abortion rights in purely political terms. Well now, we have this movie, where the Girls get a chance to take part in this week-long immersive program to learn how the different branches of government operate. And given that the program kicks off in 2022 right when the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade was leaked, it is thrilling to see how these young women react and discuss this seismic policy shift that will have very real implications for their bodily autonomy.

This movie follows the 2022 Girls State program in Missouri, and interestingly, the decision was made to run the Boys and Girls program during the same week, which has never happened before. The two are still separated, but a big part of the narrative of this movie involves the girls seeing how differently the boys program is run, with the boys spending a lot more time on policy-making, while the girls seem to be saddled with cupcake parties and more frivolous discussions, while also being tyrannically forced to abide by dress codes and curfews. We follow a diverse (both ethnically and politically) group of young women who are passionate about their interests, but also navigating the awkwardness of teenage social etiquette, and over the course of the week, it is so heartening to watch them gain more confidence, speak up for their beliefs, and make deep connections with other young girls. And more importantly, point out the inequities in Boys State vs Girls State. 

This is a moving, thrilling, fundamentally wonderful documentary that should remind us all that the kids are all right. Yes, they all have varying beliefs and some of their political ideology can be ridiculous, but the respect and kindness they show one another is something we can only hope continues into adulthood. It should serve as a template for us all on how to behave in our current fractured political climate.

I Saw the TV Glow: OK, I did not really get this movie. My fiance assures me that it is wonderful, and deep, and very meaningful, so if you are super into vibes and the narrative of "escaping your smalltown America existence" this movie might be the best thing you watch all year. But if you're like me and prefer movies that have more straightforward plot and dialogue, you might leave the theater more perplexed than when you walked in. 

Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun, this is a movie about young Owen (played by Ian Foreman as a seventh grader, but then Justice Smith from high school into adulthood), a loner kid who runs into Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), a slightly older ninth grader, who is a lesbian and is very into a TV show called The Pink Opaque. Owen is not allowed to stay up that late in his own home to watch this show (his father also derides it as being a "show for girls"), but he manages to visit Maddy to watch an episode. This TV show forms the basis of their connection for the next few years of school. Then, the two of them have to deal with their individual realities, and their paths diverge.

The production design and aesthetic of this movie are truly excellent - the episodes of The Pink Opaque that we get to see are so ridiculous and perfectly capture the terrible special effects, silly dialogue, and earnestness of teenage fantasy dramas of the 90s. This is a film that manages to capture what nostalgia feels like and the intenseness of loving something passionately when you're a teenager because it feels like the only exciting thing you have going on in your life. But subsequently, the movie takes a turn, and the second half felt a bit more jumbled up and incoherent to me. If you're queer, this film might resonate a lot more with you, as the vibes are probably dialed in perfectly to your frequency. It's a trippy, weird, movie, and while it wasn't for me, it certainly is an ambitious film that could be perfect for a lot of other viewers. 

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: I can't believe I reviewed Mad Max: Fury Road back in 2015 - oh how time flies. At the time, I waxed lyrical about how this movie was truly all about Charlize Theron's character, Imperator Furiosa. Well now, writer-director George Miller (with co-writer Nico Lathouris) is back and giving the people what they want - a prequel that gives us Furiosa's origin story. 

Anya Taylor-Joy plays the older Furiosa, but the first half of the movie mostly stars Alyla Browne as her younger self. She has grown up in the Green Place, one of the few areas that still has water and agriculture after the rest of the world has turned into a radioactive wasteland following global catastrophe. However, she is abducted by raiders, and becomes the prisoner of a warlord named Dementus (played with evil glee by Chris Hemsworth, who presumably was very excited that he could use his Australian accent on film again). What follows is two and a half hours of action, car chases, and mayhem. 

As with Fury Road, the production design is simply epic, and watching this movie on a big screen is a real treat. We get more lore of this world, where the tyrannical Immortan Joe controls food and water supplies, but also trades with other "fortresses" like Gastown and the Bullet Farm (because fuel and ammunition are the only other major necessities in an apocalyptic wasteland). The actors are great, but the focus is not on dialogue - we're here to watch things blow up and people get killed in increasingly unhinged ways. I would say I was captivated by this film for most of its runtime but it started wearing on me towards the end. It could stand to be an hour shorter, but I would then probably miss out some wildly inventive stunts and action sequences, so it's hard to know what to edit out. This is a movie that delivers exactly what you expect, so why not head back to this apocalyptic hellscape? You'll never be more grateful for the air conditioning in the theatre than when you're watching all these people trying to survive in the brutal heat and dust of the wasteland. 

Babes: After I watched this movie, I texted my best friend Laura and said, "apart from the baby part, this movie totally reminded me of us." To which she replied, "isn't this movie just all about the baby part?" And yes, that is true, but to me, a fervently child-free woman, I still thought this was a brilliantly funny and incisive movie about female friendship in New York City. That is also concerned with pregnancy and babies, but in a way that is very real and accurate, as opposed to portraying motherhood as some sort of idyllic dream. 

Directed by Pamela Adlon and written by Josh Rabinowitz and Ilana Glazer, the movie follows Eden (Glazer) and Dawn (Michelle Buteau), childhood best friends who are still integral parts of each other's lives even as Dawn has gotten married and is now pregnant with her second child. The movie opens with Dawn giving birth to Baby #2, and the movie perfectly captures the disgusting nature of labor - there are many fluids, and sometimes solids, involved as you are pushing that baby out of your uterus. Subsequently, Eden becomes pregnant after a one-night stand and decides that she wants to keep this baby and embrace single motherhood. What follows is a story of her pregnancy, her reliance on Dawn as the most stable person in her life, and Dawn's struggle with being a wife and mother to two children while also trying to be a supportive best friend. 

This movie is a hilarious, touching, and very R-rated portrayal of what it can be like when two best friends are in very different stages of their lives but desperately trying to make time for each other. It also captures the bodily hell that is pregnancy and labor - there are many times when Eden exclaims "this is not what it's like in the movies!" and girl, preach. As someone who had to deal with loads of pregnant and laboring women during an OB-Gyn rotation in medical school, I have never found that whole phase of a woman's life to be anything but horrifying. It isn't some magical and wonderful time when you are brimming with the miracle of creating another human - it is gross and your body is breaking down at every turn, with fluids constantly leaking out of you. Obviously, this movie is still pro-having children, but it at least offers a realistic depiction of the toll that having a child takes on a person. This is an activity that you cannot do alone - you need people and resources, and it will suck up your life. And remember boys and girls, you can still get pregnant if you have sex on your period!

A Slew of Binges: The Gentlemen, Shogun, Ripley, Baby Reindeer, Fallout

A number of epic shows have been released on various platforms recently, and I have been diligently watching them all. Now, it’s your turn.

The Gentlemen: Spun off from Guy Ritchie’s movie of the same name, this is a series about what happens when Eddie (Theo James), the second son of a Duke, returns home when his father dies and discovers he has inherited the entire estate instead of his older brother, Freddy (Daniel Ings). That would be enough drama to be getting on with but turns out his father had partnered with a drug crime family to grow marijuana on the estate, so Eddie has also unwittingly inherited a drug empire. For various reasons, he has to team up with Susie (Kaya Scodelario), the woman who manages these illegal operations, and what follows are eight episodes that always end on a cliffhanger and are just straight up bonkers from start to finish. This show is funny, violent, and constantly surprising, and the lead performances are a delight. Give it a shot!

Shogun: Created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks and based on the novel by James Clavell, this is a sumptuous and dramatic show set in 16th century Japan. Cosmo Jarvis plays John Blackthorne, an Englishman who arrives in Japan to establish a trade route, but unwittingly finds himself becoming an ally of Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada). A bunch of warring factions are fighting for the title of Shogun, aka ruler of Japan, and over the course of ten episodes you will be treated to a lush, detailed, and vivid depiction of this period of Japanese history, featuring incredible performances and awe-inspiring production design. The show is almost entirely in Japanese, so be prepared to read those subtitles, but it's well worth the effort. It's also only a limited series that completely wraps up its storyline in this one season, so if you're looking for something that packs a lot of prestige but won't require a prolonged time commitment, this should definitely be your next binge.

Ripley: Based on Patricia Highsmith's novel, this limited series, created by Steven Zaillian, is gorgeous and riveting. Shot completely in black and white, and starring Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley, a conman who takes everything a step too far when he ends up murdering a wealthy American in Italy and taking over his identity, this is a delicious cat-and-mouse game that tells this story in a fresh and exciting way. Johnny Flynn is great as the clueless Dickie Greenleaf, while Dakota Fanning is wonderful as Marge, Dickie's girlfriend who is always suspicious of Tom but can never quite catch him in an outright lie. But most importantly, Andrew Scott is simply impeccable, somehow managing to make this man seem timid and insecure and then morphing into a homicidal maniac who will do anything to keep his newfound extravagant lifestyle going. The cinematography by Robert Elswit is insanely lavish and as you take a tour of 1950s Italy, you might never want to return to real life. In fact, book a trip to Italy right now - you'll be glad you did once you finish watching this show.

Baby Reindeer: Created by and starring Richard Gadd, this is a true story based on his own experiences. In the show, his character goes by the name of Donny Dunn, and he is an aspiring stand-up comedian who works as a bartender. A customer named Martha (Jessica Gunning) takes a shine to him, and what begins harmlessly enough suddenly devolves into a dangerous and frightening situation as this woman begins to obsessively stalk him and harass him day and night. But if you thought that was the extent of this man's troubles, wait till you get to Episode 4, when we get a flashback to an incident in Donny's past. I won't spoil what happens, but it is raw, visceral, and the most harrowing 45 minutes of television I've seen all year. It made my skin crawl and I felt so much awe for Gadd's bravery in taking this horrific incident and sharing it with the world. The show is twisty, disturbing, and remarkable, and there's a reason everyone's talking about it. It's challenging to watch, but it's well worth the effort.

Fallout: Created by Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet and based on the popular video game franchise, this show is set in a post-apocalyptic future (natch) after the Cold War devolved and nuclear bombs were dropped in the Great War of 2077. The action picks up 200-odd years later and we follow three separate characters who have all led very different lives in this but will now find their paths intersecting. Lucy (Ella Purnell) grew up underground in a Vault, an underground bunker designed to protect people from surface radiation. However, when her father is kidnapped by surface dwellers, she ventures out into the unforgiving wasteland, where she will encounter Maximus (Aaron Moten), a squire for the Brotherhood of Steel, an organization that dons militaristic armor and purports to defend the populace, but obviously has their own nefarious schemes. She will also meet The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), a man with a complicated past from the beforetimes who has now become a mutant (kudos to the hair and makeup department) and is out for vengeance and answers regarding what happened to his family. The plot is complicated and engaging, and the production design is simply unparalleled. There's a great deal of violence and but plenty of humor - it would certainly be a vibrant and unique addition to your watchlist.

May Movies Part 1: The Idea of You & The Fall Guy

Spring has sprung and it's the perfect time to indulge in some romcoms. Depending on whether you are leaning more towards something steamy and romantic or something action-filled and comical, I've got you covered.

The Idea of You: Based on a novel by Robinne Lee, director Michael Showalter (who co-wrote the screenplay with Jennifer Westfeldt) gives us this delicious little movie about what happens when Solene (Anne Hathaway), a 40-year-old single mother of a 16-year-old, enters into a relationship with Hayes (Nicholas Galitzine), a famous boy band singer who is 24. 

Is anything about this movie going to surprise you? Absolutely not (although I will say I was a little surprised and then charmed by the ending). But are these two great actors doing some great work? Absolutely. Add to that the whole boy band angle, with some very silly but perfect pop songs made for this film that perfectly capture the aesthetic, and a lot of gorgeous travel around Europe with some eye-catching locales to make this a visual feast. And not for nothing, but this show involves the Graham Norton Show, instead of featuring a standard American late-night host, and that was quite delightful. The costumes are lovely, the production design is always on point, and (spoiler alert!) when our characters get together, I immediately went "oh my god, give that intimacy coordinator a bonus!" 

This film is exactly the direction I want the romcom genre to go. A friend of mine had heard other people talking about this film and saying, "this is beneath Anne Hathaway." To which I responded, "No, she is bringing back prestige to an oft-maligned genre!" You need actresses of this caliber delivering their best performances to remind us of the beauty and charm that can be contained in a romcom. Hathaway delivers in spades and elevates this fluffy material into a cozy confection that is perfect when you need a pick-me-up.

The Fall Guy: Written by Drew Pearce (loosely based on a 1980s TV series created by Glen A. Larson) and directed by former stuntman David Leitch, this is an action romcom about what happens when Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling), a veteran stuntman, is drawn into some shenanigans involving the actor he usually body doubles for and gets caught up in some dangerous mayhem. In the meantime, he is trying to appease the film's director, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), who he had a fling with a few years ago that came to an abrupt end after some failures to communicate. 

Settle in for some impeccable action and stunt work. The focus here is really on the action, so don't expect a great deal of character development, but it's very fun to watch things blow up for two hours, and watch some exquisitely choreographed stunt sequences that are sometimes very meta as they might be taking place on a fictional film set within the movie, but still serve to advance the overall plot of the film. More importantly, you will spend two hours staring at Ryan Gosling, and that is certainly no hardship.

Yes, this film is more action-heavy, but it still takes the time to throw in some delightful Gosling-Blunt banter, even involving a sequence with them debating the merits of Notting Hill and Love Actually. I would love to see these two in a more traditional romcom as they just ooze so much charisma, but I'm glad we at least have this movie to be getting on with. It's a fun thrill ride, with a great soundtrack - spoiler alert, but Ryan Gosling has never been hotter than when crying in his car to Taylor Swift's All Too Well. 

April Movies Part 5: Abigail, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Challengers

April is finally at a close and I somehow managed to watch three more movies in the theater. Whether you're jonesing for horror, action, or sexy tennis, I've got every possible genre covered for you in this post!

Abigail: I only like funny horror and my fiance only likes vampires, so this movie was the perfect intersection of our horror movie preferences. If you've seen the trailer, you already know what to expect. A group of criminals have been recruited for one lucrative mission - kidnap a little girl and hold her in a mansion for 24 hours until her father pays a princely ransom. Each kidnapper gets a generous cut of the ransom, and the girl is returned to her father. What could go wrong?

Well, turns out the little girl is actually a deadly vampire. So...mayhem ensues. This movie is thoroughly entertaining, gory but funny, and with great performances delivered by every single actor, especially Alisha Weir as the murderous but adorable ballerina vampire. Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and written by Stephen Shields and Guy Busick, who were inspired by the 1936 film Dracula's Daughter, this is a splendidly silly film that does not seem to follow much coherent logic in terms of what vampires can and cannot do, but don't let that bog you down. Just settle in for some laughs, jump scares, and buckets of blood. 

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: Directed by Guy Ritchie, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, and Arash Amel, this is a heavily fictionalized account of a true story. Set in 1941, at the height of World War II, Winston Churchill needs some way to get rid of the German U-boats that keep sinking supply ships that are carrying aid to the struggling UK. He recruits a ragtag bunch of commandos to conduct a special raid on a Spanish island where a boat containing all the supplies needed to keep the U-boats running is docked. What follows is a very complicated but exciting mission where our stalwart heroes must outsmart the Nazis.

This is a Guy Ritchie movie, so you should know exactly what you're going to get. There's lots of action, lots of broad comedy, and lots of lovable rogues. The cast includes folks like Henry Cavill, Alex Pettyfer, Cary Elwes, and Henry Golding, and they are all having a whale of a time. Could this film be edited more judiciously? Of course. Is there a ton of exposition and some unnecessary twists and turns just so we can have a bit more shooting and punching? Naturally. But at the end of the day, do you want a film where you just sit back and watch a bunch of hot British men fight Nazis and look effortlessly cool while doing so? You bet!

Challengers: I walked into the theater with my arms crossed, all set to hate this movie. Based on the trailers, I thought this was going to be "Hot Threesome: The Movie" and prove to be an insufferable treatise on ethical non-monogamy or some such nonsense. However, written by Justin Kuritzkes and directed by Luga Guadagnino, I was instead treated to a remarkable character study of three very twisted people who are suffering from crippling work-life balance issues. And when the work in question is professional tennis, you get a compelling and thrilling film that is kinetic and exciting and manages to be both sexy and funny.

The screenplay is written brilliantly with a flashback structure that means we keep getting the back story of our three main characters in tantalizing bursts. We always get just enough information to advance the plot further by one more step, but it's only until we get to the very end that we finally have the culmination of everything these people have been to each other and the current state of their entanglements. In my screening, there were two men who clearly thought they were coming to this movie to watch Zendaya take her clothes off, and instead, they became markedly agitated as the movie proved to be rather homoerotic, with far more attention being paid to her sweaty male co-stars, Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor. 

This movie is shot beautifully, and I have never been more engaged in watching tennis in my life. The soundtrack is genius, always providing a propulsive beat that gets you excited for the next tennis match or the next complicated sex scene where you get to see the true value of an intimacy coordinator who knows how to choreograph not just the physical act, but all the emotional complexities it represents. The actors are sublime, each representing a complex and screwed up human being with thwarted ambitions, and the evolving nature of their relationships from past to present is stunningly portrayed. This movie was a real revelation - go into it knowing as little plot as possible and you will be thoroughly rewarded. 

April Movies Part 4: Players & Upgraded

We can never watch enough romcoms and now we have two more available on streaming. So dive right in to get two very different flavors of romantic comedy that are both equally satisfying.

Players: Written by Whit Anderson and directed by Trish Sie, this movie stars Gina Rodriguez as Mack, a woman who loves to run "plays" to find casual hook-ups for herself and her friends. She routinely meets up in a bar with her best friend Adam (Damon Wayans, Jr.), co-worker Brannagan (Augustus Prew) and his younger brother Little (Joel Courtney). She has helped these men hook-up with dozens of people and they have watched her pick up many more after a long day at work. However, enter Nick (Tom Ellis), a sophisticated British journalist who has been nominated for a Pulitzer and is a proper "adult." After a one-night stand, Mack realizes that she actually wants more from this man, and now she needs to come up with a play to turn him into her actual boyfriend. With her friends' help, they embark on a complex plan (and intense stalking) to worm her way into this man's affections.

I won't tell you anything further. If you're any kind of romcom connoisseur, it should be fairly obvious to you from the jump how this whole thing is going to end. But the journey is as fun as the destination and this is a great cast of people getting up to a great series of shenanigans. This is a fun, zippy film that is perfectly charming. And as an added bonus, it takes place in NYC, so if you're a New Yorker, there will be plenty of fun "I've been there!" moments for you to indulge in.

Upgraded: Written by Christine Lenig, Justin Matthews, and Luke Spencer Roberts, and directed by Carlson Young, this film stars Camila Mendes as Ana Santos, an intern at an auction house who is desperately hoping to parlay this opportunity into a proper job and career that finally makes use of her art history degree. Her boss, Claire (played with a hilarious accent by Marisa Tomei) is a Miranda Priestly-type, a hard-ass who terrifies all her assistants. Anyway, via some machinations, Ana finds herself on a work trip to London. When an airport employee takes pity on her and upgrades her to First Class, she runs into Will (Archie Renaux), a charming young man who seems instantly taken with her. They have a very flirty flight across the ocean, during the course of which, Ana makes the mistake of pretending she is actually the Director of the auction house and not a lowly intern. 

As you can imagine, that one lie is gonna spiral out of control, not helped by the fact that, of course, Will's mother (played by the magnificent Lena Olin) is one of the clients that Claire and Ana will be holding an auction for in London. You can expect to watch Ana trying to get away with her lie without losing the man or her job, and everything will be spectacularly complicated until it all gets untangled. Again, this is nothing you haven't seen before, but these actors are delightful, London looks beautiful, and who doesn't love watching two people fall in love despite a lie and then have to navigate the fallout before they can reach their happily ever after? Get cozy on the couch and settle in for a heartwarming romance. You won't be disappointed.

April Movies Part 3: Monkey Man & Murder Mubarak

OK, did I choose to review both of these films because they are set in India and both have alliterative titles starting with M? Yes. But did I enjoy them both for very different reasons? Yup.

Monkey Man: Dev Patel directed this film, co-wrote it with Paul Angunawela, John Collee, and Jordan Peele, and then starred in it. If this is the direction this man wants to go with his career, I am wholly supportive, because this is one of the most fascinating and unique movies I've seen all year.

Patel stars as "Bobby" (not his real name, but that's what I'll use so I don't just have to keep referring to him as Monkey Man in the rest of this post). He is a poor young man in Mumbai who takes part in staged boxing fights, dressed in a monkey mask, to make some money. But we keep getting flashbacks to his past with his mother. It is clear she was very loving and doting, but then something horrific happened. As the movie progresses, we will piece together his traumatic story via many flashbacks and see how they all relate to his vengeful mission to destroy the people who ruined his life.

All of that sounds pretty standard, but where this film excels is in its execution. It does a brilliant job of capturing not only the claustrophobia of the slums, but also the exhilaration of navigating through those narrow alleys and byways and the thrumming pulse of the city where all these people magically manage to co-exist. The music choices are always excellent, with action sequences being set to rap, Bollywood, or occasionally, incredible instrumental music (renowned tabla player Zakir Hussain shows up in this film for a spectacular cameo that I can't stop raving about). The mythology of Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god, and the Ramayana runs throughout this film, setting up a righteous fight between good vs evil that very appropriately crescendos at Diwali. The cinematography by Sharone Meir is fluid and vibrant. Patel's direction is remarkably self-assured, with scenes that are shot with such an artistic and unusual point-of-view that you know this man storyboarded every frame to death. Moments of this film truly reminded me of The Green Knight, one of the best movies Patel ever starred in, as that too is a film that makes great use of mythology, imagery, and a lone man's quest.

Yes, this movie is a gory and violent action thriller, but I was so captivated by how it chose to depict that violence that I had a big smile on my face even during the bloodiest moments. There is also a significant plot involving a group of hijras (a transgender community unique to the Indian subcontinent) that is beautifully done. I am so used to Bollywood cinema always portraying hijras as villains, but here they get to save the day alongside our hero and also share some of the Hindu mythology that is so relevant to their history. This film has many remarkable themes that it weaves together effortlessly, speaking to the many minorities in India that don't always get a fair share, whether it be indigenous communities, LGBT folk, or women. Bobby's whole mission is driven by the violence done to his mother, and ultimately it is very satisfying to see him beat a man to death with a woman's shoe. I know an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, but there is certainly something poetic about watching a misogynist get beaten to death with a glittery heel.

I don't know what it means that this movie has come out right before the Indian elections. To me, it's taking a pretty anti-Hindu nationalist stance, as all the villains in this piece are people who are trying to preserve the status quo and stomp out the rights of minorities. This is definitely the kind of movie Bollywood doesn't make, but Hollywood would never know to make it either. Instead, it takes someone like a Dev Patel, who can straddle both worlds, to come up with something that is so artful and thought-provoking but can also serve as his audition for James Bond. Because damn the man looks great in a tux while slaughtering a bunch of bad guys. 

Murder Mubarak:  Written by Gazal Dhaliwal, Tamojit Das, and Suprotim Sengupta (who adapted the novel Club You to Death by Anuja Chauhan), and directed by Homi Adjani, this movie is definitely the sweariest and sexiest Hindi movie I've seen. Which accounts for why it went straight to streaming on Netflix - this is not the kind of movie you release in theaters to the more conservative masses. Apart from that however, this is still a pretty typical Bollywood film, with some pretty typical performances. What that means is that it's light and frothy, occasionally a little gory, but overall, a pretty good time if you're looking to while away a few hours.

The action takes place at a swanky member's only club in Delhi where a Zumba instructor named Leo Mathews (Aashim Gulati) has been murdered. Though there's a fair amount of misdirection at the beginning of this film for you to even figure that out. Which sets the scene for the rest of this film and its complexities. There is a sprawling cast featuring people like Pankaj Tripathi, Sara Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Karisma Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor, etc., etc. Everyone is playing a rather heightened character, and as ACP Bhavani Singh (Tripathi) proceeds to investigate this case, it becomes increasingly clear that every single person had a motive.

The mystery is rather over-complicated and it makes sense that this story started out a novel - I might have to read the book now. Nonetheless, I never got bored while watching this film, even if at times I did feel a bit perplexed. Every actor looked like they were having a blast portraying these varied characters, and at the end of the film, the Poirot-esque denouement was quite enjoyable, as we not only solved the main murder mystery, but about a dozen other mysteries besides. Don't go into this movie expecting a polished script, but certainly expect to be entertained by a huge cast and a twisty plot that'll keep you guessing till the very end.