"SPIN ME ROUND" // SXSW 2022

BY MATEO MORENO

SPIN ME ROUND, the new film directed by Jeff Baena and co-written by Baena and Alison Brie, is a perfect example of how we may dream and romanticize lush, romantic novels but in real life, they are not often anything like that. Brie plays Amber, a manager at Tuscan Grove, an Olive Garden like chain restaurant that sells to the masses instead of offering any real authentic experience. She's the quiet and reserved type but is thrilled when she finds out that she's been chosen for a trip to Italy through her job. It's a training retreat that is only offered to the top managers. She's thrilled to add an authentic, Italian experience and to really enrich herself in becoming a better manager. She's also a sucker for such romantic novels and thinks that maybe, just maybe, she'll even fall in love.

The first truly odd thing is that their host guide makes them surrender their passports, saying that it's a normal thing to do and they'll get them back at the end. Odd, but Amber doesn't let that ruin her trip. She meets up with all the other managers chosen (including Molly Shannon and Zach Woods) and as they are driving up to a dream like building which they all think is the villa they are staying in, the realize instead they're staying in a budget like inn down the road. Not quite the all-expenses paid vacation so far. They attend cooking classes, dull but not horrible and it seems that Amber's romantic wishes have slipped away. That's when Nick (Alessandro Nivola), the head of the entire Tuscan Grove franchise, makes a surprise trip to see them. Immediately upon seeing Amber, he tells his assistant Kat (Aubrey Plaza) that she reminds him of someone from his past and sends Kat to scoop Amber up and whisk her away to a day away for just the two of them. The day is spent on Nick's yacht and her romantic novel seems to be coming into view after all.

However, things get weird almost immediately and who Nick and Kat actually are becomes a bigger mystery than anything Tuscan Grove is trying to teach them. SPIN ME ROUND is a mix of genres: it's a romantic getaway, mystery, comedy and a bit of weirdness at each corner. Much of it works, including Nivola's over the top ridiculous host and Zach Woods hilarious Tuscan Grove superfan. But by the end, it gets a bit silly and doesn't quite come together. Also, there are plot points left dangling, wondering if it was on purpose or cut somewhere along the line. It's a frothy, fun watch, just one that I wish would have dug a lot deeper.

GRADE: B

WRITTEN BY Jeff Baena, Alison Brie DIRECTED BY Jeff Baena STARRING Alison Brie, Alessandro Nivola, Aubrey Plaza, Molly Shannon, Zach Woods, Ayden Mayeri, Ben Sinclair, Tim Heidecker, Debby Ryan, Fred Armisen. SELECTED AS PART OF THE SXSW 2022 FILM FESTIVAL. FOR MORE INFO: SPIN ME ROUND

IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT // A FILM REVIEW OF "PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN"

BY MATEO MORENO

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN is a female empowering vigilante movie that seems perfectly released for the times we live in. Carey Mulligan is Cassie, a young woman who we first meet as she is (seemingly) dead drunk at a club. She's barely able to hold herself up, leaning against the back of a couch. Three co-workers at the bar spot her and two of them begin to comment on her disgustingly. The third friend seems to be genuinely embarrassed by their behavior and offers to go help her out. He calls them both an Uber, telling her that he was headed home anyway. In the Uber, he decides they should stop at his place for a nightcap first. He basically carries her into his apartment and makes her a drink, then lays her on his bed, begging her not to fall asleep before they can have some fun. Then suddenly, Cassie sits straight up. "Hey, what are you doing?" His eyes widen with confusion and fear. She's very much sober and very much unhappy.

Cassie has been doing this for a while: writing wrongs and setting up men who are attempting to take intoxicated women home and rape them. She's incredibly smart and savvy, a young woman who's dropped out of med school in her final year and now lives with her supportive but bewildered parents (Jennifer Coolidge, Clancy Brown). Something that happened to her triggered her dropout and her new revenge missions, something that we slowly learn about as the film progresses. She works at a local coffee shop alongside her friend and boss Gail (Laverne Cox). She has the same view of men, no matter who they are, and those who claim that they're one of the "nice ones" are usually the worst. Her armor starts to slowly (very slowly) chip away when a former classmate Ryan (Bo Burnham) comes into her coffee shop, first embarrassing himself in front of her and then asking her out on a date. She says no, but he comes back and starts to show that perhaps he isn't one of the bad ones. His sense of humor is as dark as hers and as long as he doesn't know about her nighttime gig, perhaps this might be someone to bring some sort of light into her life. First though, there's a few people who need to pay. People that played a part in the dark past that has inspired Cassie's new life.

Each time we think we know what's in store, the film shifts and twists, adding surprise after surprise. Writer/Director Emerald Fennell has crafted a fantastically clever thriller with pitchblack humor. She's also cast the men perfectly, with the slimiest of them played by comedic actors known for playing the "good guy." Carey Mulligan is phenomenal as Cassie, sublime, brutally hilarious and magnificently gripping in a powerhouse of a performance. There's darkness and pain behind every smile and as we root for her, we also fear that her own humanity is slipping farther and farther away. The supporting cast all add wonderful layers to the film and sometimes shocks us into silence. There will be plenty to talk about and discuss after the closing credits, and you should be having lots of conversations. PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN is a non-compromising feature debut for Fennell and a devastatingly great film.

GRADE: A

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Emerald Fennell STARRING Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Laverne Cox, Alison Brie, Alfred Molina, Connie Britton, Chris Lowell, Adam Brody, Max Greenfield, Molly Shannon, Christopher Mintz-Plasse. NOW PLAYING IN SELECT THEATRES (WHERE THEATRES ARE OPEN). FOR MORE INFO: https://www.focusfeatures.com/promising-young-woman