October 12, 2023
THE LITTLE HAWK
THELITTLEHAWK.COM
13 CULTURE
LH MOVIE REVIEWS
Asteroid City A love letter to Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City
By Zsigimond Ford Released in the early summer of 2023, director Wes Anderson’s most recent production has been met with rather undeserved mixed reviews. Taking place in a small American town circa 1995, Asteroid City blends Anderson’s beautiful art style and a nihilistic, yet equally beautiful philosophy on not only the medium of acting, but life itself, while maintaining a humorous tone throughout its runtime. The film begins as a documentary of the fictional play, Asteroid City. Narrated by Bryan Cranston’s character and filmed exclusively without the presence of color, the scenes of the documentary serve to explain many of the questions one may develop when watching the other portion of the film, the play. Filmed in full color, the play portion takes the majority of the film. Within the play is where we find more of a traditional plot. A family of six, who have recently become five, are on their way to a small town for an award ceremony that the oldest son has been invited
GRAPHIC BY WISDOM KONU
to attend. On their way, the family’s car breaks down, stranding them in the middle of the desert with an outlandish supporting cast, and a traditional depiction of the American military. The cast slowly grows closer, until the banter is cut short by the unexpected appearance of, well, an alien. Post-alien we see how our cast copes with this new discovery, and more importantly, the military. In the world of the documentary, we find the actors of the characters in the play, and more importantly,
the reasons they have for performing, excluding Jason Schwartzman’s character. Throughout the documentary portion, Schwartzman’s character struggles to find the meaning of the play and his character’s actions, placing his ability to act into question. This slowly leads him to what I believe is Anderson’s philosophy on the art of acting. The cinematography of the film is, as expected, breath-taking. Anderson’s ability to turn any scene into eye candy never ceases to impress. Watching
Bottoms
Bottoms, a new racy lesbian comedy film reinvents the genre By Sadie Bodzin and Yomi Hemley If you go into Bottoms under the notion that it’ll be a typical high school comedy, you’re in for a real treat. This movie can be described as many things: horny, lesbian, bloody, incel, violent, etc. But it definitely can’t be described as an ordinary high school comedy in any way, which is why that’s exactly what makes this movie so good. The movie starts with childhood best friends PJ, played by Rachel Sennot, and Josie, played by Ayo Edibiri, getting ready for their school’s back to school carnival. In an attempt to impress their crushes Isabel, played by Havana Rose Liu, and Brittany, played by Kaia Jordan Gerber, the best friends accidentally “injure” Isabel’s boyfriend, Jeff, played by Nicholas Galitzine. When rumors at school arise and they get sent to the principal’s office, Josie lies about starting a fight club. The girls end up starting this fight club, but not for the reason of promoting women solidarity, but to get with their respective crushes. Behind the humor of the movie, there are deeper issues of hypermasculinity, violence against women, and homophobia that are addressed as well. However, these issues don’t have to take center stage and control the characters’ personalities or storylines as they often do in movies about queer people. It’s important to be able to represent queer youth especially, and paint them as regular people and this movie does a great job at highlighting the issues presented with humor instead of cruelty. It’s refreshing to see a movie about LGBTQ+ youth that doesn’t shy away from issues in the community but is also able to flip the switch and be hilarious as well. The comical cuts make the movie itself even funnier and the self awareness of how absurd the entire film contributes to the humor as well. Every character is played in a believable way that really feels as if they are highschoolers. It also isn’t deep with an underlying message. It’s just a
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING THIS FALL
Twitches
the background of many of these scenes reveals the level of care Anderson puts into his films, which allows for a very pleasant rewatching experience. The props of the film are equally fitting in the scene of a small American town, while maintaining the level of absurdist humor that Anderson is known for. My only major critique of the cinematography and practically the entire film is its use of special effects. Although the film does not make use of these effects often, when it does, it’s in harsh contrast of visual style to the rest of the scenery, creating a very off-putting watching experience any time they are used. The film certainly is not without its flaws, its vague and often confusing connotations and sudden pace changes can be rather overwhelming to process. Yet, its beautiful art direction and flawless comedy more than suffice for the hindrance. Allowing for a pleasant watch for a less invested audience, while creating a much deeper viewing experience for those willing to search for it. Asteroid City is certainly a film undeserving of its reviews.
When I Fly Towards You By Claire Hartwig
A must-watch for all hopeless romantics!
GRAPHIC BY WISDOM KONU
funny movie that happens to have queer people in it. The majority of queer movies and shows only represent gay men, leading to many lesbians feeling underrepresented in their own community. On the rare occasion there is a lesbian film or show, it often includes some tragic story, but that’s not the case with Bottoms. This is why Bottoms’ representation is so important. It makes lesbians and sapphics feel seen in a lighthearted way that people can truly enjoy. Looking back at other sapphic movies, there are few that are feel-good films that sapphics can enjoy. Bottoms is opening doors for this type of comedy in queer media. But Bottoms isn’t only a feel-good high school comedy, but also proof that there can be queer and especially sapphic representation in media without the character’s going through some dilemma about their queerness, displaying that all queer people are so much more.
Coraline
Twilight
GRAPHIC BY CLAIRE HARTWIG
Coco
GRAPHICS BY WISDOM KONU
