Society of the Snow (01.12.24)

 

They say that it is much safer to travel by plane than it is by car as there isn't exactly a lot of stuff to run into up there. But in the defense of those with aviophobia, you also aren’t likely to be stranded in a place that makes rescue difficult, like the ocean or the Andes Mountain, if you get into a car accident. The likelihood of never being found rises exponentially if you crash while flying, a horrifying fate that nearly befell the passengers of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 in 1972.

Their story is one that has been told previously (most famously in 1993’s Alive, starring John Malkovich and Ethan Hawke), but it is hard to imagine it being told better than in Society of the Snow, a Spanish movie that premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in 2023 and was recently released internationally on Netflix. As with most (if not all) foreign films, the story is best experienced in its original language with English subtitles rather than Netflix’s default of dubbing over lines, the better to convey the raw emotion that the actors portray at heart-wrenching levels. This impressive cast is mostly made up of newcomers to the industry if Wikipedia is to be believed, a fact that is not easily apparent with the outstanding quality of the work they put in. I would be lying if I said I didn’t often get confused as to who was who—I don’t recall any actual character names, but I don’t think they were “kid who kind of looks like Adam Driver" or “guy who resembles a kid who wasn’t very nice to me in high school.” But the loss of each one is still felt heavily as the struggle unfolds, a fact that speaks to the quality of the script, acting, and directing.

Society of the Snow does not shy away from some pretty grim subject matter, nor does it try to sugarcoat horrific topics like cannibalizing the bodies of the deceased in extreme survival situations. It isn’t afraid to get gross, in other words, and I therefore wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, especially those who are squeamish or can’t stand the sounds of people crying out in agony and sheer terror. The cannibalization mention may seem like a spoiler, but everything in this film is fairly predictable: Society of the Snow ultimately touches on most of the themes you would expect of a movie of its ilk. But that is not a thing I can hold against a film that is based on actual events, of course.

In the end the unflinching exploration of the ugly depths that these people sunk to helps to make the heights of their triumphs feel all the higher for it. Because at the center of Society of the Snow is the simple message that hope and the human spirit are resilient things, and by the end of the film I felt not only exhausted and emotionally drained but also elated. Just don’t put me in an airplane anytime soon.

Society of the Snow is now available on Netflix. 

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on January 12^th, 2024. Visit at www.keizertimes.com.

The Family Plan (01.05.24)

 

I am still not really sold on the merits of Mark Wahlberg as an actor, but I do think he puts in some pretty solid work whenever a script calls for him to lean into his funny side. The Other Guys was decent, as was Ted (and The Happening was absolutely hysterical, although that one wasn’t on purpose). And hey, the dude is buff and totally believable as an action star because of it (The Italian Job, The Fighter, etc.) The new Apple film The Family Plan is a movie that plays to Marky Mark's strengths, being billed as both a comedy and a family-oriented action romp, and just like its star it is pretty passable if not particularly compelling.

The Family Plan feels familiar almost immediately and never stops being predictable, leaving little room for any feeling of originality. The plot has been done before and all of the beats have been beaten, be they comedic or dramatic. This makes the proceedings drag on with all the haste of a particularly lethargic lump of molasses, as everyone knows what’s going to happen, so why not just get there? The only twist I was truly surprised at does nothing to add to the story, seemingly existing just for the sake of it. At two hours The Family Plan feels entirely too long, although it does still manage to show some signs of life on the way.

The action in The Family Plan isn’t anything special but it does do the job pretty well, injecting energy into the runtime when things get boring. There are some amusing fight scenes, including one that involves a baby Bjorn-clad Wahlberg in a knife fight and another that involves a car chase, a minivan, noise cancelling earphones, and an Enya track. And hey, plenty of people get beaten up as things go along. That’s pretty cool.

The jokes aren’t nearly as funny as they should be for something claiming to be a comedy, mostly omitting clever writing and instead repeatedly drawing from the well that is reaction shots of a (sometimes obviously CGI) baby being amused at various violent situations. But the actors do their thing earnestly, keeping things from getting too painful. When the film shoots for heartwarming it hits its target often enough, even if the characters skew a bit unlikable at times (or maybe I just hate teenagers and teenager problems). The logic of The Family Plan is sometimes suspect as well, as the screenwriters are sometimes less concerned with how things actually work in favor of how they want those things to serve the story, such as one bafflingly illogical lazer tag scene and the uncanny ability Michelle Monaghan’s character has to somehow change a baby’s diaper as she is holding said baby.

Will Mark Wahlberg ever be the leading man Hollywood wants him to be? Perhaps not, but I think we have at last found a niche that works for him—middling action films with a side of comedy. You can do worse.

The Family Plan is now available on Apple TV+. 

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on January 5^th, 2024. Visit at www.keizertimes.com.