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★★★☆☆
14 August 2018
A movie review of MADELINE’S MADELINE. |
“This is the play. This is immersive theatre,” Evangeline (Molly Parker)
Oliver Stone movies often have two people fighting over the soul of the protagonist, e.g. WALL STREET (1987), ANY GIVEN SUNDAY (1999), etc. In MADELINE’S MADELINE, if Helena Howard is Charlie Sheen in PLATOON (1986), then Miranda July is Willem Dafoe, and Molly Parker is Tom Berenger. The first casualty of pretentious performance art is innocence. Unfortunately, MADELINE’S MADELINE is not as good as PLATOON-set-in-the-world-of-physical-theatre might sound. The film is equally attention-grabbing and annoying. One of the earliest lines of the movie is, “What you’re experiencing is just a metaphor.” I couldn’t help but think of art hooligans, Hoover (Paul Kaye) and Vulva (David Walliams), in television show SPACED.
Oliver Stone movies often have two people fighting over the soul of the protagonist, e.g. WALL STREET (1987), ANY GIVEN SUNDAY (1999), etc. In MADELINE’S MADELINE, if Helena Howard is Charlie Sheen in PLATOON (1986), then Miranda July is Willem Dafoe, and Molly Parker is Tom Berenger. The first casualty of pretentious performance art is innocence. Unfortunately, MADELINE’S MADELINE is not as good as PLATOON-set-in-the-world-of-physical-theatre might sound. The film is equally attention-grabbing and annoying. One of the earliest lines of the movie is, “What you’re experiencing is just a metaphor.” I couldn’t help but think of art hooligans, Hoover (Paul Kaye) and Vulva (David Walliams), in television show SPACED.
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There are a lot of grating characters. Basically at one point or another, the entire cast. Of course, we all can be. Though, the movie focuses on histrionics. See the twee title alone. (Is this a sly nod to Proust’s madeleine? And how memory is incorporated into art?) More likely the title refers to our lives being co-opted by others for culture/commerce. Madeline (Helena Howard) joins a New York performance art company and its director Evangeline (Molly Parker), struggling to find inspiration, starts using the heroine’s biographical details shared in confidence.
Evangeline’s transition from mother figure to parasite is unnerving. The lead trio are skilful. Ensemble acting awards at the end of the year should consider them. We see Evangeline’s own insecurities. Pregnant with her first child, the anxieties of impending parenthood are unspoken but there to interpret. Evangeline becomes one of those bosses who take sole credit, instead of correctly allocating and sharing.
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Madeline has been pushed into the arms of Evangeline, because of an over-protective Regina (Miranda July). Naturally a mother wants to be a part of her child’s life. Though, inserting herself into Madeline’s troupe without permission adds to the mother-daughter tension. Has Regina got any friends of her own? Actually, none of the three leads seem to have close friends. Both Regina and Evangeline have latched onto Madeline.
Director Josephine Decker improves from the sub-mumblecore THOU WAST MILD AND LOVELY (2014). Her direction is energetic, and goes mumblecore with the generous doses of awkwardness. If you’re a fan of Lena Dunham’s television show GIRLS, you might be more inclined to embrace MADELINE’S MADELINE, though this is not in the same league as Dunham’s sublime feature debut, TINY FURNITURE (2010).
MADELINE’S MADELINE’s climax is indie blockbuster. Not Michael Bay-hem or anything. By going relatively big, it prevents dourness, showing the filmmakers have optimism for the future of their lead.
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