The Peanut Butter Falcon + A Hidden Life
Leigh and Tim go on a heartwarming journey with The Peanut Butter Falcon and take on Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life. Plus, there's Transformers, Top Gun and Bond news, and a new Fast and the Furious 9 trailer sticks it to the competition.
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THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON MOVIE REVIEW
Tim: We saw The Peanut Butter Falcon recently and this is a modern Mark Twain tale about Zak, a man with Down syndrome. He runs away from his care home to chase his dream of becoming a wrestler. Leading up to this review, we mentioned how beautiful this story is. It’s really simple and just so beautifully done. It co-stars Shia LaBeouf and Dakota Johnson, and is written and directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz – and this is their debut feature. Which is a really interesting point to pull out because it felt like such a well-realised, beautiful story. Don’t you think?
Leigh: For first-time filmmakers, they’ve made documentaries before and short films, but yes, they did a really good job. Another interesting point is that this story was specifically written for [the actor] Zack Gottsagen. They met him at a camp for actors with disabilities a few years ago and just wanted to craft a story around him and his talents.
Tim: It felt so genuine, didn’t it, to his passions, which transferred into the character…
Leigh: …and he is incredibly talented. He's very charismatic on the screen...
Tim: …very charismatic, and has really good comedic timing. He and Shia had a really great, beautiful relationship that developed over time. Shia’s character was kind of in the dumps. He wasn’t doing so well after the death of his brother and he was up to no good in terms of crime and stealing and all the rest of it. He is escaping from those elements and stumbles across Zak, who escapes in this fantastic moment of comedy and camaraderie with his older roommate (Bruce Dern).
Leigh: It’s worth noting that, much like real life, the care options for Zak, outside of a family, are limited. He’s in a nursing home, which is obviously where he does not belong. He needs care but also independence. He knows he’s not supposed to be there but they can't let him leave.
Tim: Yes. It’s a duty of care from the state that they have to put him in this place. He’s a young man who is surrounded by old people and it’s not where he belongs. And he’s quite mischievous and naughty, trying to escape all the time. This film kicks off with him successfully escaping and, the poor guy [laughs], he’s just in his underwear because he’s had to rub himself with lubricants to slide out of the window. It’s a nice balance of fun and humour with quite sombre, serious undertones, don't you think? Not just from the character of Zak and his situation, but also Shia’s character. He has a lot of demons that he's working through.
Leigh: I like how you mentioned the relationship between Shia and Zack onscreen. Their improvisation felt so natural. You could tell that Zack was taking the lead in this movie, and all the actors and supporting cast were there to literally support him. They just reacted to him and let him take the lead, and I think those were the best moments of the film. When it was a bit more obviously scripted, I think that’s where it fell down a little bit.
Tim: Right. I guess they are the challenges you face as a writer and director sometimes, but with the directors’ documentary backgrounds and that art of rolling the camera ready for the moment to happen really, really translated beautifully in this film. They were just capturing the banter and interaction and building that relationship.
Leigh: That’s a great point about the cinematography. It is so relaxed and natural and just fits perfectly into the landscape of this film. They’re travelling down the water around Georgia down to Atlanta, I think, and the camerawork isn’t intrusive. It feels really natural. Like you’re a quiet observer on their journey. I really liked that.
Tim: The beautiful landscape plays to the Huck Finn story. I wasn’t expecting it to take place in that environment. I say this a lot about films, that the environment becomes one of the characters but it certainly was. It added a lot of obstacles for them in the terrain, and the harshness of some of the land and the heat and all the rest of it.
There’s that amazing moment where they come up with his wrestling name – The Peanut Butter Falcon – on the beach, with the headpiece and everything, and they are free. It is so beautiful and authentic. He is living his best life, despite it being in this tumultuous journey where they don’t have much food or water or security or safety – but they’re free.
Leigh: And that’s all they wanted. What did you think about the music?
Tim: I thought it was beautiful. It really added to the impact of the story they were trying to tell.
Leigh: …so very fitting for the setting. You had rockabilly, gospel, folk music, it just fit perfectly. And speaking of Shia again, he delivers an exceptional performance. One of his best.
Tim: He was so interesting to watch, he puts his all into his roles. He was in his element, especially with the improvisational elements of this film. He showed what he’s capable of, and how he surrenders to the moment and becomes quite vulnerable.
Leigh: And by, as I said, letting Zack take the lead. Just being there to support him. Which is the sign of a really talented actor.
Tim: Absolutely. And they’re not things you learn overnight. He’s quite an interesting person outside of film, you know, as a human, quite… I wouldn’t say strange but tormented. But in this one, you could tell that he was really passionate about this project and the story they were telling together. That was really, really great to watch. I mean, he was a bit of a dick [laughs], but you do see his journey. So you’ve got two really interesting stories to follow, and how they coexist.
Leigh: One thing that did let it down a bit is I struggled with the accents. They’ve got very Southern drawls, and it felt like the actors went very deep with that. Maybe that’s authentic? I don't know. I haven't been to that part of America. But sometimes it was quite hard to understand what they were saying and follow along with the dialogue. Did you find that?
Tim: No, not so much. But now I can see why you might have. That reminds me, my husband watched A Star is Born and couldn’t understand anything Bradley Cooper said! He said “I need to watch it again with subtitles”. Do you think it was Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born level or somewhere in between?
Leigh: Somewhere in between.
Tim: Good point. Maybe a recommendation would be to watch this film with subtitles so you can catch all the beats, if you struggle with that.
Personally, this film really affected me because my uncle recently passed away. He had Down syndrome. The parallels to Zack and my uncle got me right in the feels because my uncle loved wrestling as well. That passion, that excitement and that drive to be a wrestler, and that adoration Zack has, was just like my uncle had. So yeah, I just absolutely adored this film on many levels. It was beautifully written, directed and performed.
Leigh: Isn’t that the great thing about movies, though? Isn’t that what we love about film? When it can connect to you on a personal level and make you feel something.
Tim: You can see yourself or others really close to you in there? Yeah. I just got a bit of chills right now. But anyway, I’m really happy that we are reviewing this film, and it was something that we both really, really enjoyed and encourage you to see.
Leigh: Definitely, how many popcorn kernels would you give it?
Tim: I’ve just had the best time. I’m going to give it a four because of all the things we discussed.
Leigh: I’m going to agree with you.
Tim: Yay! Well guys, The Peanut Butter Falcon is a really fantastic film, so please catch it in cinemas if you get the chance.
A HIDDEN LIFE MOVIE REVIEW
Leigh: We also saw Terrence Malick film A Hidden Life. That’s a long movie!
Tim: Three hours.
Leigh: Terrence Malick is known for being a very self-indulgent filmmaker. And this film had it in spades. Just to tell you a little bit about it: It’s about an Austrian farmer (August Diehl) in World War II, who refuses to swear allegiance or fight for Hitler. So he becomes a prisoner of war and is tortured. They want him to fight. A Hidden Life is about standing up for what you believe in,
Tim: Which is always relevant in today’s world.
Leigh: It’s a big calling card of Terrence Malick films. He takes these really big philosophical ideas and puts them into really simplistic cinematography. I want to say simplistic, but it’s not because there was a lot.
Tim: He spent three years editing this film. I can’t imagine what the original runtime would have been. Look, we’re focusing a lot on the duration. But I think it’s really important because with a big philosophical story about the struggles with your morals, I think what was interesting about this was that it was probably an area in the history of Germany that isn’t particularly well known or documented. That you would have people within and nearby Germany that don’t support the war. What happens to them? And it’s based on a real person.
Terrence just didn’t have an economy of storytelling. It was such a simple story that didn’t need three hours to be told. And it really, really impacted you being able to connect with the characters. It just went on and on, and you’re thinking the immediacy of this is being lost because you’re spending probably 45 minutes of the film where the characters just stand next to each other in silence. Or you’re showing a beautiful shot of the mountain, which are all stunning ways of transporting you into their world and how they live day-to-day. It was stunning, absolutely stunning. You cannot discount the score or the cinematography, but the story was not three hours’ worth.
Leigh: No. You had this really powerful imagery, as you said, like some stunning waterfalls and longing looks between these people who are in love and being torn apart...
Tim: …and the changing seasons as well...
Leigh: ...But then you get this extended shot of a fly crawling up a windowpane. Yeah, which was long. I noted it!
Tim: Terrence has a really interesting way of telling a story, and if I can try to explain it. So if you’ve got a scene that’s this long, I’m just putting my hands up here to demonstrate, and he kind of brings you in on maybe a question. It’s a way into the conversation where they’re already in the setting. It’s not the beginning of the conversation and they’re sometimes halfway through. Then he cuts again. And you might be a few minutes further into what would be that conversation, but you've missed the gap in the middle? And then he cuts again, and they’re just standing there looking at each other and looking out the window. He doesn't give you the full scene. It’s snippets of things happening.
Leigh: It’s interesting how he chooses those snippets because, as you said, you miss a big chunk. And you wonder why is he focused on this chunk? Over maybe a deeper conversation? That’s what Terrence Malick films are really about. It’s about a feeling and the combination of the handycam style filming sometimes. It really makes you feel like you’re watching a home movie or snippet from someone’s home movie. Which did affect me emotionally. It brought me in emotionally. The first third the film, I was loving, it was beautiful. I felt like I knew these people, I could identify with these people even though I’ve never been a farmer and I’ve never lived in the Austrian Alps. It felt so beautiful and so simple and like a life you just really want to aspire to. It also gave you that impending doom that you knew what was coming. I really felt the emotions that Terrence Malick was going for, but then you get to the middle of the film and you start thinking: ‘Okay, time to move on. I get it. I get your point. Can we move on.
Tim: You’ve really captured the journey of connecting with the characters up to a certain point, until it just didn’t move quick enough. I then found myself being really removed from what was actually happening to the characters because the choices that he was making as a filmmaker weren’t helping me connect. They were actually disconnecting me.
Leigh: Absolutely. But then balancing that out, you get incredible performances from the actors and actresses. I don’t know how else to describe them. They were on point every time. And there must have been, like you said, whole sections of this that were cut out that led them up to that point and then it was like, BANG, they’re in this emotion and you’re feeling it with them and it’s hitting you hard. They were just so incredible at portraying that.
Tim: I just think that the film, and don’t get us wrong, we’re not all here for a Michael Bay cut-every-point-five-of-a-second film. Terrence does a really beautiful job to let scenes and moments breath. But then I kept running out of breath. You know what I mean? It was too much. You opened our take on this film saying that Terrence is a self-indulgent filmmaker, and I don’t think I’ve seen a more self-indulgent film than A Hidden Life in a long time.
Leigh: It was missing that disciplined element of someone to rein him in…
Tim: Yes. As an artist, you should be able to go where you want to go and he went there and good for him. But it’s not a film that everyone’s going to connect with, or feel that it’s something they can endure. I felt like it was a bit of a chore [laughs]. In the end, it was it was just a chore of a film. For me.
Leigh: I did say to you that I might have to leave at some point because it does get quite late in the evening. I thought around the two or two-and-a-half-hour mark, if it wasn’t going anywhere, I was going to duck out – which I don’t like doing. I don’t walk out of movies. That’s a big thing for me. Having said that, I felt like I was compelled just that little bit more to stay that little bit longer. It wasn’t a compelling movie, but I was compelled just that bit more to stay that bit more and again that bit more. And then I got there to the end and I’m glad I did. So there was enough there to keep you watching.
Tim: Are you glad you stayed?
Leigh: Yes, I’m glad I saw it. It sounds like we’re tearing it to shreds but it is a beautiful film, it’s just quite long.
Tim: All right, what would you give it out of five popcorn kernels then? I’m really struggling with coming up with a number in my head right now to be perfectly honest.
Leigh: On the one hand, it’s beautifully made and beautifully acted. There wasn’t much in the way of dialogue or scripting, but even if it was an hour shorter, he didn’t need that…
Tim: …It could have been an hour shorter, like 100% could have chopped 60 minutes out of it…
Leigh: I’m giving it three popcorn kernels.
Tim: I was hovering between two-and-a-half and three, but I think just from his ability to put you in a world that felt so authentic, you know, their life on the farm, you felt like you were there. I think that alone and how they filmed it deserves a three too.
Leigh: Alright, so that’s A Hidden Life from Terrence Malick.
