Mitchell, Radha

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    ‘Blueback’ Review: A Heart for the Ocean

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    Mia Wasikowska stars in this mournful, stodgy drama about the emotional cost of protecting the planet from its most rapacious predator: the land developer.Consider the western blue groper the St. Bernard of Australia’s southern coast, a heavy, friendly fish game to frolic with swimmers if fed the right treats. “Blueback” gets its title from the pet name a young diver gives her aquatic playmate. Directed by Robert Connolly, it’s a mournful, stodgy, girl-meets-fish drama about the emotional cost of protecting the planet from its most rapacious predator: the land developer.The screenplay, which Connolly adapted from Tim Winton’s 1997 children’s novel, unspools in flashback. Abby (Mia Wasikowska) is a marine biology professor paddling frantically to prevent the collapse of a coral reef when she learns that her mother, Dora (Radha Mitchell), is dying. Returning home, Abby recalls a childhood steeped in environmental activism. She chooses to fight with science; her mother fearlessly screams at greedy fishermen and chains herself to a construction truck. (Abby’s father, a pearl diver, was eaten by a tiger shark.)Mitchell’s earthy, mercurial performance — plus a supporting bit from Eric Bana as a bonfire-dancing bohemian — loosen up memories that feel too tightly welded together. You can feel barnacles on the dialogue, like when a corporate bully (Erik Thomson) growls, “You and your mom really think you can stop this, don’t you?”While Nigel Westlake’s violin flurries froth up suspense whenever possible, the film has more impact simply letting the women pause to soak in the beauty of the ocean. The one exception is a wrenching moment when the teen version of Abby (Ilsa Fogg), in desperation, punches her beloved Blueback to scare him away from spear hunters. We’ve seen variations on that musty but effective “shoo, boy!” scene, starring everything from dogs and wolves to a giant ant and Sasquatch. Your eyes get just as wet with a fish.BluebackRated PG. Running time: 1 hour 42 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Life Upside Down’ Review: Lotharios, Unmasked

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      Couples try to navigate relationships in lockdown in this pandemic satire.Shot remotely over Zoom in May and June of 2020, “Life Upside Down” is among the last of a microgenre that won’t feel interesting for another decade. This tissue-thin social satire, written and directed by Cecilia Miniucchi, pokes its head into how the pandemic affected a wealthy strata of Angelenos. It’s a shallow look at shallow people.Paul (Danny Huston), an erudite writer, is forced to make conversation with his trophy wife, Rita (Rosie Fellner), who confuses Plato with Play-Doh. Elsewhere in this upper-class enclave, the art gallery owner Jonathan (Bob Odenkirk) struggles to maintain his affair with his avowed soul mate Clarissa (Radha Mitchell), sexting his longtime mistress whenever his actual wife ducks out for groceries.The premise has potential as a bit of wicked comeuppance. Odenkirk, in particular, is willing to go full louse. (One throwback joke that works is that his character lazily wears his mask halfway, his exposed nose as unwelcome a sight as a flasher on Hollywood Boulevard.) But this is a true time capsule of the earliest days of quarantine, a moment where prognosticators were torn between predicting that divorce rates would spike (in truth, they dipped 12%) or truly believing that this experience might make us all better people. Ultimately, and unconvincingly, Miniucchi cedes to optimism. The score thrums with the power chords of enlightenment and, in a grace note, Fellner’s supposed airhead lands the script’s most insightful line: “Real love is to be at peace with flawed love.”Life Upside DownNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Vudu and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More

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      ‘Asking for It’ Review: A Few Rude Men

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      An all-female gang of vigilantes pursue despicable men in this oppressive revenge fantasy.Subtle as a sledgehammer and shallow as a saucer, “Asking for It” is painted in such broad strokes that — with just a smidgen of humor — it would pass for satire. Yet this grim face-off between monstrous men and damaged women unspools with so much self-righteous swagger that the earnestness of its writer and director, Eamon O’Rourke, is never in doubt.After Joey (Kiersey Clemons), a sunny waitress, is sexually assaulted by an old friend, her shock is catnip to Regina (Alexandra Shipp) and the band of punk feminists — all survivors of some form of abuse — who have made it their business to punish errant males. Led by Sal (Radha Mitchell) and armed with grenades, guns and chemically castrating gas, these vengeful vigilantes roam their state (the movie was filmed in Oklahoma), meting out punishment to variously vile white men. Prominent among these is the repellent Mark Vanderhill (Ezra Miller), a top-hatted twerp whose Men First Movement preaches an ‘if you want it, take it’ philosophy to would-be alpha males.As the women battle fraternity bros, human traffickers and the racist police who enable them, this mirthless tale hinges on Joey’s unconvincing transformation from gentle homebody to violent avenger. On-the-nose dialogue (“Black and sweet, just like God made you,” responds one of Joey’s customers when asked how he likes his coffee) and distracting flash cuts substitute for back story in a film that cares little for differentiating one violated woman — or one pasty-faced jerk — from another. Instead, “Asking for It” is all about the trauma: Its heroines have nothing in common but suffering and nothing on their minds but revenge.Asking for ItRated R for racist attitudes and misogynist philosophy. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Vudu and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More