Cherry (2021) - Avenger vs Opioids

CHERRY is the feature film adaption of Nico Walker’s 2018 novel of the same name. The drama about an Army medic turned drug addict and bank robber is brought to your AppleTV+ screen from the director duo behind the latest two Avengers films. Tom Holland stars as Cherry, a college dropout who impulsively joins the Army after his girlfriend breaks up with him. Cherry swiftly gets back together with his ex, but it’s already too late to back out of his commitment to the Army. He returns riddled with the traumatic experience of the war in Iraq and rapidly develops an addiction to opioids and struggles to keep afloat as a war vet in his mid-20s.

Joe and Anthony Russo return to a Non-MCU-film after seven years and four movies over at the big mouse. Backed with fewer dollars in the budget but stacked with notable star power as Tom Holland once again tries his hardest to drop his London accent for an American one. Holland’s performance is quite solid and from what I can tell - being Swiss - also on point with his American accent. Cherry also stars Ciara Bravo in her biggest role to date. Whereas Holland left an overall good impression Bravo missed more often than not, resulting in a moderate amount of unconvincing scenes. 

Arguably, this is less on her and more on the overcrammed narrative that repeatedly falls short in selling rather abrupt character developments. At almost two and a half hours of runtime Cherry is certainly not a short film and quite honestly might have been better served in the form of a mini-series. However, the long run-time would probably be shortened by over 15 minutes if the overuse of slow-motion sequences were less frequent. The sudden shifts in aspect ratios and fourth wall break alongside the few and far between Wes Anderson-like staging and framing add up to an overall tonal mess that is structured into five chapters, which I assume was taken from the novel, for no apparent reason other than those cool red title cards.

On the whole, Cherry tries to tell an engaging narrative whilst poking fun and highlighting some of the flawed systems in the US. Although the attempt is very much noted and respected, there is not enough substance to let the narrative flow fittingly. What we get is a Coming-of-Age love story, war drama, cheeky fourth-wall-breaking character study on PTSD and drug addiction in addition to a Scorsese-esce rise and fall of a bank robber. It's just a bit much.

Conclusively, Cherry tackles PTSD and opioid addiction from a narrow field of view and rests a bit too comfortably on its bankable lead and directors creating a ball bath of cinematic ideas for them to play in to leave more to be desired. Nonetheless, it’s a big win for Apple TV+. One that will hopefully bring some new subscribers to the streaming service.  

Cherry is entertaining, easy to look at and its sweeping camera movements and charismatic lead will probably be enough to please most audiences. It uses its lack of character depth in the form of a rather fast-paced plot. 

2.5/5

Cherry releases on Feb 26 in cinemas and will be available to stream on March 12 on Apple TV+

CODA (2021) - The Big Winner of the Sundance Film Festival 2021

Siân Heder’s CODA, an American remake of the French La Famille Bélier (2014) manages to exceed the mainly comedic approach of the original and tackles the story from a more grounded and authentic angle. Whereas the original didn’t make an effort to actually cast deaf actors in the respective roles, Siân Heder did for CODA. Emilia Jones’ Ruby is the only hearing member of her deaf family who makes ends meet with fishing. She helps out each morning before school and faces social isolation in school due to her family's disabilities. When she finally jumps over her own shadow and joins the choir to act on her lifelong passion for singing, she is encouraged by her teacher Bernardo (Eugenio Derbez), who insists on rolling the R’s in his name, to aim higher than keeping up the family fishing business and to consider going to music school.

Emilia Jones as Ruby Rossi

CODA is the type of film you can recommend to pretty much anyone without risking that they won’t enjoy their time with it. It’s a crowd-pleasing movie with several great emotional pay-offs for multiple characters and overall it is just a great time to watch. However, apart from deaf performers in deaf roles, the movie isn’t anything groundbreaking or spectacular. At the end of the day, it is a very familiar story of a young adolescent who doesn’t believe in themselves (enough) until a third party, mostly some kind of mentor figure, comes in and teaches them to harness their true potential. It even packs the ‘don’t be held back by people around you in your small town’ trope into the mix and if I’m being totally honest, I don’t mind the storytelling clichés that CODA uses. Because the film shines especially in smaller moments of situational comedy and emotional payoffs between Ruby and her parents. 

Amy Forsyth as Gertie, Daniel Durant as Leo Rossi, Marlee Matlin as Jackie Rossi, and Troy Kotsur as Frank Rossi (from left)

Although there are a number of knit-picks I have with the film, the overall story hinders me to not enjoy this heartfelt story to the fullest. Certain dramatic tensions feel rather forced and easily avoidable mostly through communication, but I guess ultimately that is one of the issues tackled in the narrative itself so I cannot fault it too much for that.

Siân Heder’s second feature won big at Sundance taking home the award for Directing, Ensemble Cast, and both the Audience and Grand Jury Prize for best Drama Feature. 

CODA was a worthy tick-off for the Sundance Film Festival and broke records by its $25Mio. acquisition by Apple for their streaming service AppleTV+, surpassing last year’s Palm Springs that was bought by Hulu for $17Mio & 69 Cents and can be expected to be released in the next few months on Apple’s streaming service.

Eugenio Derbez as Bernardo Villalobos

CODA sets Ruby on a familiar journey of self-discovery and combines a Coming-of-Age story with authentic and respectful portrayals of a mostly deaf family. With a healthy dose of humor, drama, and music CODA will have something for everyone.

3.5/5





Dystopian Movies & Series to Binge on Whilst Quarantined

I almost named this blog post “We’re All Going to Die Anyway, So Here Are Some Dystopian Movies and Series to Freak You Out Even More”, but I thought Ewan (aka my boss) would veto that… so here we are.

Most of the world has been quarantined, all of the toilet paper and hand sanitiser has been stolen by angry boomers, but hey, we still have the internet? For that reason, the QOS team decided to offer you some lists of what to watch when quarantined.

First up: Dystopias!

Series

For all of you rich kids with AppleTV+, check out See. The sci-fi drama (starring Jason Momoa, drool) tells the story of a future world, where all people have lost their sight, until one day, where a pair of twins is found, who are able to see! With just 1 short season of 8 episodes (renewed for season 2), this would keep you busy for at least a day.

-> See is available on AppleTV+

The Handmaid’s Tale! Now, this was an obvious one. Ever since the Margaret Atwood book got picked up for a series (and a film in the 90’s mind you), The Handmaid’s Tale has become a worldwide sensation. Be aware: If you wish to have a full Offred experience, check out the book before watching it (if you’re still able to order any) and then watch the first series. As a purist myself, I refrain from watching on after the first season, which is where the book ends. (Even though yes, Atwood released a sequel to the book 34!!! years after the first one, but it seems more like a capitalist move to me). The series tells the story of a future world where human fertility is at an all-time low, meaning that fertile women now serve the higher-ups of the country, as handmaidens, who are basically baby-birthing machines.->The Handmaid’s Tale is available on Hulu.

If you don’t mind a subtitle, check out the Brazilian thriller 3%. You will immediately fall in love with the way they say three percent, and the plot, which is SOLID. Very binge-worthy and a great introduction for Brazilian productions. 3% tells the story of an extremely poor Brazil, where every year, the best 3% of every year make it to the “Offshore”, a utopic island, where every single wish you may have is fulfilled.

-> 3% is available on Netflix.

Movies

Are we over The Hunger Games yet? Nah. In case you have been living under a rock, The Hunger Games books and movies took the world by storm. The Hunger Games follow Katniss through the yearly system of “sacrifice”, which has been implemented through the government of Panem. Also, if you’re interested in seeing the low-rent version of Hunger Games, Divergent is currently available on Netflix.

-> The Hunger Games is available on Amazon Prime

For those of us with a child’s heart, Wall-E still remains a crowd favorite. The adorable animation introduces us to Wall-E, a clean-up robot left on Earth to clean trash and to find any signs of plants to restart human living on Earth. After Wall-E stumbles upon a beautiful plant, he then sneaks his way onto a rocket onto the humans’ cruise ship in space. All in all, it’s a beautifully heartbreaking story of climate change and the impending problem of drowning in our own trash.

-> Wall-E is available on Disney+

As you might have noticed by now, this list does not include too many super high-end films or series, because we’re all just here to have fun, right? A stupid fun film to watch is Idiocracy, starring Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Terry Wilson, Dax Shepherd and many more… Luke Wilson plays soldier Joe Bauers, who wakes up after 500 years of a military hibernation experiment to the dumbest society you could ever imagine. He is then recognized as the “smartest person alive” and is quickly given the task to fix everything wrong with America he has to wake up to.

->Idiocracy is available on Hulu

Is it even a list if there isn’t Will Smith on it? I, Robot will give you an evening full of action and of the fresh prince of Bel-Air fighting off robots who wish to take over the world. And if I, Robot isn’t enough Will Smith for you, go check out I am Legend, if you haven’t already (it will break your heart).

-> I, Robot and I am Legend are available on Netflix

I left the spookiest for last: Contagion. In short 106 minutes, you can witness a virus, originating from Chinese bats taking over and killing the whole world. Sound familiar? Yeah, this one will leave you up all night until the end of your quarantine. 

-> Contagion is available on Amazon Prime


That’s it for today’s list, watch out for new lists being posted both on our webpage and on Letterboxd. For the time being, stay safe and take care!

Edit: Recommendation from Rory: High Rise starring Tom Hiddleston in a high stake drama about the life of residents of a tower block that quickly spirals out of control.