August brings a diverse slate of films to the silver screen, from prehistoric adventures and directorial debuts to intimate family dramas and supernatural thrillers. This month’s releases offer something for every cinephile, with notable entries including the much-anticipated return of dinosaurs in The End of Oak Street, Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut The Chronology of Water, and the latest installment in the Insidious franchise.
Dinosaurs Reign Supreme in ‘The End of Oak Street’
David Robert Mitchell’s The End of Oak Street transports audiences back to the prehistoric era, offering a nostalgic nod to the family-friendly adventure films of the 1980s, reminiscent of Steven Spielberg’s classics. The film centers on a suburban neighborhood from the 1980s that is suddenly teleported to a prehistoric landscape, forcing a family to fight for survival against a new menu of dinosaur threats.
Anne Hathaway shines as the determined mother, a character on the verge of leaving her family but who ultimately fights fiercely to keep them together. Ewan McGregor plays the well-meaning but largely absent father, supported by Maisy Stella as a science-minded daughter and Christian Convery as a son prone to leading the family into peril. While the film boasts fun set pieces and impressive dinosaur effects, often compared favorably to those in Jurassic Park, it struggles with tonal consistency. The narrative oscillates between family-friendly peril and graphic violence, and the focus shifts between the children taking the lead and the parents’ storylines, leaving the film without a clear identity.
Despite its shortcomings in fully embracing its influences or subverting them, The End of Oak Street provides a tight 90-minute experience that captures the innocence and danger of its 80s inspirations, making a case for the resurgence of the genre.
Kristen Stewart Explores Trauma in ‘The Chronology of Water’
Kristen Stewart makes an audacious directorial debut with The Chronology of Water, a lyrical and fragmented adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir. The film delves into Yuknavitch’s troubled childhood and the profound trauma she endured, presented through a series of vignettes and conversational scenes punctuated by lingering voiceovers.
Imogen Poots delivers a compelling performance as Lidia, embodying the character’s brokenness, mercurial nature, and acts of resistance. The film is deeply intertwined with the imagery and sound of water, reflecting Lidia’s past as a competitive swimmer whose career was derailed by substance abuse and self-destructive behavior. Water, whether in bathtubs, swimming pools, or natural springs, is a constant visual motif, mirroring the film’s fixation on bodies—contorted, convulsing, and pressed together.
With a score that often emphasizes raw sounds like pencil on paper, door knocks, and disjointed breaths, the film maintains a claustrophobic and unrelenting perspective, confined to Lidia’s point of view. Stewart’s accomplished debut, however, manages to make this difficult narrative accessible by presenting it in an asynchronous form, ultimately guiding the audience through Lidia’s journey toward recovery.
Gregg Araki’s ‘I Want Your Sex’ Critiques Gen Z’s Relationship with Intimacy
Gregg Araki’s latest film, I Want Your Sex, offers a sharp, acid-tongued critique of contemporary attitudes towards sex and intimacy, particularly among Gen Z. The film presents a stark contrast to more conventional romantic comedies, instead exploring the complexities and perceived failures of modern carnal relationships.
The story follows Elliot (Cooper Hoffman), a young assistant tasked with creating a giant vagina sculpture for his new boss and eventual lover, artist Erika Tracey (Olivia Wilde). The narrative unfolds through Elliot’s confession to detectives, recounting his entanglement with Erika and the events leading up to a disturbing discovery. The film initially captivates with its vibrant neon aesthetic and evocative textures, drawing viewers into Elliot’s obsessive pursuit of Erika.
Araki, known for his exploration of Gen X’s relationship with sex in the 90s, brings a familiar yet updated sensibility to the subject. The dialogue crackles with pop culture references and pointed observations about both the oversexed and the prudish. However, after a strong first half that leans into heightened, cartoonish reality, the film falters. When Elliot prioritizes his fixation on Erika over his best friend’s feelings, the narrative loses its momentum, devolving into a less compelling thriller that fails to fully resolve its initial intriguing ideas.
‘Insidious: Out of the Further’ Delivers Familiar Scares
The Insidious franchise returns with Insidious: Out of the Further, the sixth installment in the supernatural horror series. Shot in various locations around Melbourne, the film attempts to recapture the mystique of its predecessors, which initially blended haunted house tropes with excursions into a spectral realm known as “the Further.”
While the original Insidious was a critical and commercial success, the franchise has since produced several sequels of varying quality, leading to a dilution of its initial appeal. Out of the Further features protagonist Gemma (Amelia Eve) being pursued by otherworldly forces, blurring the lines between reality and dreams. One of the film’s more effective sequences involves Gemma trapped in an endless, claustrophobic pillow-fort labyrinth.
In a landscape increasingly dominated by independent Gen Z horror, the film feels somewhat stale, revisiting familiar themes of family trauma and mental health. Despite its reliance on franchise tropes, Out of the Further manages to string together a series of frights, distinguished by some memorably grotesque imagery. The return of Lin Shaye, a franchise stalwart, is a welcome addition. The film also offers the novelty of Hollywood’s attempt to pass off Melbourne’s inner suburbs as New England.
‘The Love That Remains’ Offers a Bleakly Funny Divorce Drama
Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason’s The Love That Remains presents a surprisingly, albeit bleakly, humorous depiction of divorce and its impact on a family over the course of a year. Following his previous work Godland, this film offers a different kind of spiritual reckoning, focusing on the dissolution of a marriage.
The film, under two hours long, drifts through the minutiae of work and family life, set against fertile mountainous backdrops. Pálmason masterfully conveys the warping, shattering, and looping nature of time through delicate compositions and patient editing, creating a cumulative emotional effect. The narrative captures an intimate tonal balance, observing the family’s private moments and the lingering affection between the parents (Saga Garðarsdóttir and Sverrir Guðnason) as they surrender to the inevitable end of their relationship.
The Love That Remains playfully parodies idyllic notions of domestic bliss, featuring joyous montages of the family foraging for food and gathering in their dreamy countryside home. The family includes two daughters and a twin, with the director’s own children portraying some roles, and even a show-stopping award-winning sheepdog. Yet, beneath the surface of this seemingly perfect life, a persistent decay gradually demands acknowledgment. While it may lack the widespread buzz of other relationship dramas, The Love That Remains is a deserving film that prompts deep post-viewing reflection.
& Sons: A Familiar Family Drama with Unfulfilled Potential
Pablo Trapero’s & Sons centers on a dying patriarch who summons his estranged sons to his remote mansion to reveal a long-held family secret. Starring Bill Nighy as the patriarch, Andrew Dyer, the film features Noah Jupe and George MacKay as his sons.
The film’s premise, while intriguing, treads familiar territory in the family drama genre. Andrew Dyer is portrayed as a volatile, alcoholic, agoraphobic writer suffering from a 20-year case of writer’s block. His eldest son, Richard (Johnny Flynn), is a struggling writer tasked with adapting his father’s work, which was allegedly based on his own diaries. Each scene aims for dramatic intensity, but the overall effect is a flatness that permeates the two-hour runtime.
The film suffers from a lack of complete character arcs, with many characters feeling overstuffed with flaws and plotlines but lacking development. Imelda Staunton, as Andrew’s ex-wife, is underutilized, delivering electrifying performances in limited scenes. While the actors are capable, & Sons fails to fully capitalize on its intriguing premise or the talent involved, leaving audiences with a sense of unfulfilled potential.
