STREAMING REVIEWS: Desolation alley

Today’s two films explore how being alone can happen in pairs or even when surrounded by many. In the end, it’s your mental state.

Afire (Amazon Prime by Demand) – Christian Petzold directs this cerebral but engrossing film. It took home the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at Berlin earlier in the year, and it’s not hard to understand why this drama received such an accolade. It’s now the official entry of Germany for Academy Awards consideration as Best International Feature Film. The film opens with Leon (Thomas Schubert) and Felix (Langston Uibel) heading to the summer home of Felix’s parents, situated near a resort town by the Baltic Sea. The car breaks down, and they walk the rest of the way; only to discover that the house is already occupied by Nadja (Paula Beer), a friendly woman who’s working at the ice cream stand for the summer. Leon is a writer, while Felix is a photographer.

Petzold’s most recent film was Undine, where the element of water played a very prominent part in the film’s narrative – and where Paula Beer played the title character, a modern-day mermaid. So it’s no coincidence to find a different element, fire, playing just as important a role here and backing up this drama about relationships, loneliness, and petulance into one that also carries an environmental message. Petzold was probably aware of how destructive the annual California fires can be and sought to use that natural occurrence within a European context. But what makes this film truly special is the dissection of Leon’s character and how Schubert’s acting has much to recommend it. He’s bitter, contrary, and the typical spoilsport at a party, yet Schubert makes him sympathetic and interesting.

The Royal Hotel (Amazon Prime by Demand) is a psychological thriller directed by Kitty Green (also credited as co-writer), partially inspired by the 2016 Hotel Coolgardie documentary. It’s fundamentally about toxic masculinity and how it raises its ugly head in the most unexpected places and is viewed as a strong follow-up by Green to her film in 2019, The Assistant. It’s no coincidence that the star of that earlier film is Julia Garner, who is cast again as Hanna in this new film. Her good friend is Liv (Jessica Henwick), and they’re American backpackers posing as Canadians (because everyone loves Canada) vacationing in Australia. Excessive partying in Sydney means their funds have sunk low, and they take up an employment agency’s offer to work as bartenders in a remote bar in an Outback mining town.

‘Town’ is an overstatement, as it’s the last stop before the Outback. From the very first day, Hanna is shocked by the casual sexism, the misogynist jokes, and the oftentimes inappropriate behavior of the bar’s patrons. Liv is a more easygoing individual and dares to attribute it to culture shock. There’s strong acting from the two girls, a diversity of toxic masculinity on display, and a number of tense vignettes that leave us wondering why the girls got into this situation in the first place. The contrast between the attitudes of the two friends is marked and helps us navigate what they have to go through in the course of the film. There is a rather pat, apocalyptic ending that leaves too many questions unresolved, but the journey getting there is well worth it. — Philip Cu Unjieng