Movie Reviews: Schoolgirl sets about dismantling the patriarchy in Moxie
Moxie: an upbeat, feelgood movie in the mould of Booksmart and Easy A
(12A) stars Hadley Robinson as Vivian, who gradually comes to realise that her high school is a hotbed of toxic sexism when new student Lucy (Alycia Pascual-Pena) refuses to be intimidated by the football team captain, Mitchell (Patrick Schwarzenegger), and finds herself ostracised and bullied. Determined to make a difference, and inspired by her mother’s (Amy Poehler) own teenage activism, Vivian secretly publishes the feminist manifesto ‘Moxie’ and sets about dismantling her school’s patriarchy.
Adapted by Tamara Chestna and Dylan Meyer from Jennifer Mathieu’s YA novel, with Amy Poehler directing, is a high school movie that packs a considerable punch. The girls of Rockport High are subjected to sexist ratings, obliged to adhere to more stringent dress codes, and are encouraged to laugh off threatening male behaviour — much of it embodied by Mitchell, who is the swaggering embodiment of white male privilege.
But while the storyline directly confronts such behaviour, it also devotes much of its energy to exploring a variety of female relationships: that of Vivian and her mother, Vivian’s strained friendship with the conservative Claudia (Lauren Tsai), and the burgeoning coalition of young women, from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, who rally to Vivian’s call to arms.
The result is a fascinating investigation of the high school movie’s tropes and a powerful account of #metoo in microcosm, with Hadley Robinson hugely likeable as the revolutionary Vivian and Alycia Pascual-Pena suitably incendiary as the spark who lights the flame.
With a pounding soundtrack of Riot Grrrrl’s punk luminaries setting the tone — the girls are particularly inspired by Bikini Kill’s Rebel Girl, naturally — is an upbeat, feelgood movie in the mould of Booksmart and Easy A. (Netflix)
"The world is broken," says Raya (voiced by Kelly Marie Tran) as (PG) opens. Living in ‘a dystopian world’ that was once a verdant earthly paradise, Raya is searching for the fragments of a magic gem that, reassembled, will reunite the warring tribes of Kumandra and restore the ancient dragons to their role as the guardians of humanity.
With the resurrected dragon Sisu (Awkwafina) by her side, Raya declares her intention to persuade the clans of Kumandra that it is in their best interests to co-operate — but she has reckoned without the ambitions of Namaari (Gemma Chan), a former friend now blinded by power and greed. Directed by Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada, Raya and the Last Dragon is the latest animated offering from Disney, with Raya, the daughter of the kindly Chief Benja (Daniel Dae Kim), a Disney Princess in the guise of a ninja-style warrior.
Following on from Moana (2016) and last year’s live-action remake of Mulan, the setting is vaguely Polynesian-Oriental, even if much of the story takes place in a blighted, post-apocalyptic setting. The elements of the classic quest story are all present as Raya sets out on her epic journey through Kumandra, but this is a movie that is happy to weave other genres — sci-fi, fantasy, martial arts action — into one of the oldest storytelling forms of them all.
The result is a charming adventure yarn with a heartfelt plea for mutual respect and co-operation at its heart, with Awkwafina in scene-stealing form as the voice of a self-deprecating dragon who, despite being hailed as the saviour of humanity, announces that she’s probably the worst of all the dragons Raya could have chosen to help her in her quest. (Disney+)
Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, they say, but Claire (Najarra Townsend) is dangerously sincere in (15A) — a hairstylist by trade, Claire is a serial killer by vocation, appropriating strangers’ hair for her own use by scalping them and afterwards wearing the blood-soaked hair as a wig. When a client, Olivia (Brea Grant), begs Claire to do her hair for her upcoming wedding, Claire tries to resist, knowing that her obsession will have fatal consequences.
Written and directed by Jill Gevargizian, is a gripping but flawed tale of monstrous compulsion: while the story alludes rather vaguely to the reasons why Claire has become a latter-day Sweeney Todd, we’re never sure what motivates her, and why she is prepared to take such considerable risks: on more than one occasion, Claire acts on impulse, displaying the kind of recklessness that seems at odds with her previous success as a secret killer.
That said, Najarra Townsend is brilliantly intense as the increasingly unhinged Claire, who is constantly adopting new personas as she trembles on the brink of a homicidal meltdown, and she gets strong support from Brea Grant as the distracted bride-to-be who fails to spot the monster hiding in plain sight. (internet release)
