Film Review: The Two Popes, Phantom Thread, First They Killed My Father, Little Women

 This will be a review for The Two Popes, Phantom Thread, First They Killed My Father, and Little Women.

The Two Popes is a drama about Pope Francis and former Pope Benedict XVI, the titular two popes. The two men have very different views regarding the stance of the Church on various issues such as homosexual marriage. As the two men begin to know each other better, they each confess that they have a lot of guilt for various things that have happened in their lives, such as having failed to help their friends or having covered up terrible acts to preserve their reputation. This is definitely quite a cerebral drama dominated by talking, giving insight to the inner conflict and interpersonal conflict of the two popes, and with Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce as Francis and Benedict respectively, their charisma and screen presence alone is worth the watch.

Phantom Thread is a drama, with the final role for acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis, who plays a fashion designer who creates custom-fitted clothing for high-end clients. He is shown to be an extremely obsessive man who insists on a particular routine and is very controlling, yet is also dependent on his sister Cyril. His world is turned upside-down when he falls in love with a young waitress played by Vicky Krieps. This seems like the ideal set-up for a manic pixie dream girl scenario where the lively young woman brings the stern man out of his shell, but no, it goes in a completely different direction than what one might expect, with a lot of focus on the actors' expressions betraying their emotions, and with a couple of surprising twists and turns throughout. Day-Lewis is at peak intensity here and is matched easily by Vicky Krieps, who is a relative newcomer to English productions. Watching them play off of each other in their struggle for control in their relationship is simply captivating, and makes for a terrific film.

First They Killed My Father is the true story of how a young girl, Loung Ung and her family struggled to survive in Cambodia while it was being dominated by the terrifying Khmer Rouge regime. The film starts off tense, with the Khmer Rouge showing up to evict the Loung and her family from their home. What follows is a somber drama about the horrors of the Khmer Rouge, of oppression, and of war, all seen through the eyes of Loung, yet there is also an ever-present glimmer of hope that she will survive it all. It is that hope that carries Loung through her hardships, and her desperation and vulnerability really showed through young actress Sreymoch Sareum's performance. However, I will say that the sense of danger towards the end of the film seemed diminished, and made the ending slightly less compelling. Despite this, it is a deeply moving film about survival that is well worth your time.

Little Women is based on the famous novel of the same name, about the coming-of-age of the four March sisters: Jo, Amy, Meg, and Beth, played by Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson, and Eliza Scanlen respectively. The narrative centers mainly on the relationships between the sisters, their romantic pursuits and the rivaling affections between Jo and Amy for Theodore Laurence, the wealthy young man who lives near them. Throughout the film, there are flash forwards to a few years later, when Jo is trying to publish a novel, and it is this anachronistic structure that makes the film more enjoyable as you get to see the end point of their growth as well as the process, while having certain mysteries left unrevealed until the last flash forwards. The performances are superb, the production design is fabulous, and the dialogue is engrossing. All in all, a really enjoyable film.