Tag Archives: books

The Housemaid

An ad for the new movie The Housemaid suggests that moviegoers will want to see this film for a second time. Presumably to piece together all the film’s plot elements. 

Once is enough for me. The film’s “bloody violent content” is a smidge over-the-top for my taste. YOU, on the other hand, might be totally okay with it!

The Housemaid is a suspenseful, psychological thriller. The stars are attractive. All are talented. The story is unraveled cleverly. And, along with the tension, The Housemaid even has a few chuckles. Good movie. Just grisly.

There are signals early on in the story that things in this beautiful house are not quite right. Would a suburban housewife like Nina (Amanda Seyfried) actually hire as a housemaid a woman who looks like Minnie (Sydney Sweeney)? Especially when she has a handsome hunky husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar) who is a perfectionist?

It’s soon revealed that Minnie is a recently paroled convict who is sleeping in her car. She needs the gig, even if her rather spartan room is at the very top of the house. Minnie works hard to keep Nina pleased with her work, despite her uneasiness with Nina’s erratic behavior.

As the tale unfolds and more is revealed, we learn things about Andrew, his man cave (where he likes to watch of episodes of Family Feud) and his controlling mother (Elizabeth Perkins). And what about the swarthy handyman (Michele Marrone) seen lurking in the yard doing random tasks? And Cece (Indiana Elle), Nina’s daughter from a prior relationship?

NO SPOILERS HERE! What transpires in The Housemaid are events you might have guessed were coming. But you will enjoy it more, I think, if you just allow things to happen and let yourself be surprised/amazed by what unfolds.

The Housemaid is directed by Paul Feig who knows how to assemble a suspenseful movie. Writer is Rebecca Sonnenshine from Freida McFadden’s novel. The Housemaid is rated R for “strong/bloody violent content, sexual assault, sexual content, nudity and language.” 

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Eleanor The Great

Can a lie ever be… the truth? Or maybe a version of the truth?

Like TV’s Dr. House says, “everybody lies.” You do. I do. Little lies. Big lies. In the new movie Eleanor The Great, Eleanor (June Squibb) unleashes a whopper that just keeps growing and growing. 

Eleanor had shared an apartment in Florida for several years with a lifelong friend (Rita Zohar), a fellow widow. When the friend dies, Eleanor, a spry 90-something, moves back to New York to live with her daughter (Jessica Hecht) and grandson (Will Price). When daughter sends mom to the neighborhood Jewish Community Center to make new friends, Eleanor stumbles into a Holocaust Survivors support group. 

The story she tells gets a strong response from the group AND from an NYU student, Nina (Erin Kellyman) who is observing. Nina interviews Eleanor, brings her into her classroom and soon becomes a chum. When Nina’s dad, a TV newsman (Chiwetel Ejiofor) begins to record a video with Eleanor, the truth comes out. But there’s more to be told beyond Eleanor’s simply being caught sharing a lie.

Eleanor The Great is not, in fact, great but it is good. It’s the directorial debut of Scarlett Johansson. It has the feel of many indie films with shots of subjects having pensive moments while quiet piano music plays. ScarJo, whose Jewish heritage was explored recently on PBS’s Finding Your Roots, and screenwriter Tory Kamen lean into Eleanor’s Jewishness to a degree one doesn’t often see in popular films. But you don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy this film.

The real charm here is June Squibb who turns 96 is just a few weeks. Her energy and good nature are irresistible. She was a true delight in last year’s movie Thelma and while this new film doesn’t require as much physical effort as that one did, she’s just a pleasure to watch. Speaking as a mid-century boomer, I hope I’m as eager to embrace an active life when I’m her age as she appears to be.

Eleanor The Great is rated PG-13.

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Drop

A suspense thriller has to be intense. Enough to make a filmgoer a tad uncomfortable but not so much as to be off-putting. Drop is just intense enough without going over the line. It’s rated PG-13, not R.

Violet (Meghann Fahy) is a widow with a 5-year-old son. She’s finally ready to date again. She agrees to meet Henry (Brandon Sklenar) for dinner. When she arrives at the restaurant she has quick encounters with a few staff members and patrons.

After Henry arrives, she begins getting threatening messages on her phone and wonders what’s going on. As the tension builds, it also occasionally ebbs throughout the ordeal via Henry’s gentle demeanor and a comic-relief goofy server.

As relatable as a constantly pinging cellphone can be, and as annoying as text messages from unknown sources can be, coupled with the awareness that we are often being surveilled, Drop takes our modern tech and the constant attachment we have to our cellphones to a different level. 

As Meghann monitors camera shots from her home and considers the potential peril her son Toby and her babysitting sister Jen (Violett Beane) may face, she wonders who is behind all this troubling harassment. Another restaurant customer? The piano player? The goofy server?

During their conversation, Meghann reveals to Henry that she is a survivor of domestic abuse. Interestingly, Brandon Sklenar played a key character in last year’s It Ends With Us, another film involving an abuse survivor. 

Director Christopher Landon and writers Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach have crafted a film that feels very “of today” with its focus on phone messages delivered via Air Drop. Still, Drop seems like a rather generic title. 

Drop clocks in just under an hour-and-a-half, so the suspense which some filmmakers stretch to ridiculous limits, is kept to a reasonable extent. Like the film’s intensity level, it’s not too much. Just enough.

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