No. 81 (2022) DON'T WORRY DARLING October 11th.

 

Film No. 81  (2022)  October 11th.  4:00 PM  EVENT CINEMAS,  Cine 4,  Innaloo.

"Frank has built something special out here, something truly special. What he has created out here is a different way, a better way" (Shelly calls the gathering together before introducing her husband Frank).

WINNER; Fanheart3 / Graffetta d'Oro  Olivier Wilde for Best Film. Venice Film Festival.

 

With so much hype, anticipation, glare and rumour attached, one never knows quite what to expect with a film like DON'T WORRY DARLING. Not that it should matter, it's whether we enter the darkened cinema in a prejudicial frame of mind. I didn't and enjoyed the DON'T WORRY DARLING experience. But it's a pity I can't rave about it. I want to, but storytelling is so important when it comes to films like this.

In summary the story revolves around a '50s house wife, (Florence Pugh playing Alice Chambers), faithfully serving her husband Jack (Harry Styles) in an experimental society where living the dream is never in question. The question is, why is she living this dream? or, conversely, is it a dream she is actually living in? The plot is not original. THE TRUMAN SHOW, THE STEPFORD WIVES and THE VANISHING have already cut DARLING'S path. So what's new and why does it fizzle out?

What's new? Well other than MAD MEN, the era, visually, has never looked more authentic. The sets, the costumes and the design, matched with a cast that makes everything around them sparkle, can't be faulted. Pugh, while not new, is captivating in all her scenes; she'd want to be, she's in them all. But so much of the story they try to thrill us with just does not add up, even if the utopian tropes scream at us to "free our minds"!

And then there is the finale! My Oh My, what a let down. For a film so invested in creating so much mystery (the rumbling, the red overall wearing minders, the Jim Jones-esque leader (Chris Pine)) the payoff is best compared to a damp fire cracker burning, then fizzing! A shame indeed.

But I'm recommending the film to all and sundry. It is so worth seeing. Olivia Wilde (BOOKSMART) is a director worth following. Her role as Bunny, Alice's neighbour, underlines her power as a performer in front of the camera. The sum of Wilde's imagination doesn't completely add up, but the currency she shuffles around in front of us is absolutely captivating.  9GUMS.