Post by Dracula on Dec 4, 2021 10:37:38 GMT -5
The Humans(11/25/2021)
Though they were big on holding out for theaters during the pandemic A24 has been increasingly willing to experiment with alternative distribution this year like they did with their latest film The Humans, which was simultaneously released in some theaters and on Showtime of all networks, which means that it will probably mostly be watched by idiots like me who still pay for cable packages. That’s unfortunate because I do think this is a film of merit, albeit one that kind of takes a while to get going. The film is a stage adaptation brought to film by its original author Stephen Karam and looks at an upper middle class family that’s gathered in a New York apartment for a Thanksgiving dinner and as tends to happen in plays and movies like that a whole lot of tensions and family secrets bubble to the surface over the course of the evening. I feel like this movie is a bit too slow burn for its own good in its first half as it has its characters do a whole lot of nothing for a while seemingly to slowly introduce their dynamics to the audience but once the family finally sits down things do become a bit more eventful. This is a film that incorporates a limited set and isn’t trying to hide its stage origins much but it does have a few neat cinematic tricks, mostly involving limited lighting within the apartment set and odd sounds that seem to break into the space. Ultimately I do think that slow first half brings the movie down but it’s a decent showcase nonetheless.
*** out of Five
Though they were big on holding out for theaters during the pandemic A24 has been increasingly willing to experiment with alternative distribution this year like they did with their latest film The Humans, which was simultaneously released in some theaters and on Showtime of all networks, which means that it will probably mostly be watched by idiots like me who still pay for cable packages. That’s unfortunate because I do think this is a film of merit, albeit one that kind of takes a while to get going. The film is a stage adaptation brought to film by its original author Stephen Karam and looks at an upper middle class family that’s gathered in a New York apartment for a Thanksgiving dinner and as tends to happen in plays and movies like that a whole lot of tensions and family secrets bubble to the surface over the course of the evening. I feel like this movie is a bit too slow burn for its own good in its first half as it has its characters do a whole lot of nothing for a while seemingly to slowly introduce their dynamics to the audience but once the family finally sits down things do become a bit more eventful. This is a film that incorporates a limited set and isn’t trying to hide its stage origins much but it does have a few neat cinematic tricks, mostly involving limited lighting within the apartment set and odd sounds that seem to break into the space. Ultimately I do think that slow first half brings the movie down but it’s a decent showcase nonetheless.
*** out of Five
